Man busted after falsely claiming to be Federal Agent, Marine
by Mike Donoghue
BURLINGTON – A private security guard who authorities say falsely claimed he was both a federal agent and retired Marine was ordered jailed Monday after appearing in federal court on fraudulent impersonation charges.
Brandon Anderson, 34, had been providing armed protection through a private security firm for a Williston building leased by FEMA until he was fired last Friday, officials said.
The Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department had received a call from the FedEx office in Williston on Wednesday about a man, dressed in full tactical gear and wearing a holstered gun, trying to ship numerous firearms to New York, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations said in court records.
A deputy sheriff, an actual retired federal agent, spoke to Anderson over the phone and asked several questions but soon became suspicious. The man claimed he was a “DHS agent” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) and was trying to ship the guns to a private company, court records show. When asked if he was a sworn law enforcement officer – somebody who carries a firearm, badge and has full arrest powers – the suspect responded yes, records note.
The deputy sheriff and HSI agents responded to FedEx on Marshall Avenue and observed Anderson in full gear with a personal identity verification card on the right side of his vest and a black tactical uniform with black body armor with no patches except for a small insignia on the vest, records show.
FedEx said they would not ship the guns Anderson wanted to send to his employer, Strategic Security Corp. of Smithtown, N.Y., court records note.
Anderson appeared briefly in federal court Monday afternoon. The prosecution asked for a 3-day delay in the detention hearing to allow for further investigation of the defendant, believed to be from Greenwood, Ind.
Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle set a hearing for Thursday after ruling there was initial evidence Anderson might be a risk to flee or for non-appearance. The government said it considered Anderson a danger to the community and a risk to flee
Anderson has been living at a Williston hotel and on the job since at least last July but is now unemployed, Doyle said. Anderson has no known ties to Vermont.
HSI arrested Anderson at the FEMA office on Hurricane Lane in Williston at about 2 p.m. last Friday. HSI eventually lodged him at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans on Friday evening,.
Investigation revealed Anderson was involved in an earlier case. He was wearing a tactical vest and carrying a gun during an incident at the University Mall on Dorset Street on Nov. 10, 2023, according to South Burlington Police.
UMall Security questioned the man, later identified as Anderson, as to which agency he worked. The man claimed he was a “fed,” HSI said in court papers. The man later said he was with “DHS,” and he was working a “protection detail,” HSI said.
Anderson was with a 46-year-old woman, who was employed by FEMA, an HSI special agent wrote.
A FEMA security supervisor told HSI on Thursday that his agency does not employ security officers to perform executive protection and they should never describe themselves as federal officers, HSI said.
South Burlington Police, which had been summoned, spoke with UMall Security, who said it did not want him carrying a firearm in the mall unless he was on official duty, court records show.
HSI said Anderson reported he supervised four employees and would sometimes wear his full tactical gear while off-duty, including shopping at Shaw’s Supermarket.
HSI Special Agent Alex Zuchman confronted Anderson about his claims of having served in the Marines and listing military service on his employment paperwork, court records show.
Anderson had claimed he had an honorable discharge from the Marines after serving from Oct. 8, 2007, to August 13, 2011, court records note.
Zuchman said Anderson claimed he failed out of “boot camp,” but records from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) showed he had no civilian or military service, records note.
https://vermontdailychronicle.com/man-busted-after-falsely-claiming-to-be-federal-agent-marine/