Florida man sought in sale of fake, real badges

Federal investigators bought hundreds of badges from the man's Web site. He is not known to have ties to terrorists.

By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 1, 2002

Undercover investigators in Florida and Tennessee went onto the Internet and bought more than 900 black market law enforcement badges, including FBI and Secret Service shields, federal authorities said Thursday.

FBI spokesman Jon Stephens said a Florida man with no known ties to terrorists is a suspect in the case but has not been arrested. Stephens would not say where in Florida the suspect lives.

"The investigation continues," Stephens said.

The badges -- both real and counterfeit -- represented more than 40 federal, state and local agencies. They included shields from the Border Patrol, the Postal Police, the Drug Enforcement Agency, military police, security police from Air Force One and police departments in at least 20 states.

Stephens didn't know whether any Florida badges were involved.

One of the shields was an official Utah Highway Patrol badge for the 2002 Winter Olympics. "These badges haven't even been put on the street yet" to Utah troopers, said FBI Agent Doug Riggin. "I don't know if you could get into a venue with just the badge, but you could certainly get closer. It would certainly give you more credibility.

"The individual trafficking these badges was selling them for profit, including selling them to foreign nationals," said Riggin, an agent based in Nashville. "He had no idea what they were going to be used for."

Authorities think the real badges were either lost or stolen before they wound up for sale on the Internet. The FBI is investigating whether the counterfeit ones came from badge manufacturers or distributors.

Stephens said the suspect sold the badges on a Web site that has since been taken down. After several purchases by undercover agents, the FBI searched the suspect's home, where more badges were found.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol was tipped to the black market trade last summer by someone who said it was easy to buy badges on the Internet.

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