A New York man has been charged with criminal impersonation after allegedly pretending to be an FBI agent who had been wounded in the line of duty, despite investigators previously determining his gunshot injury was self-inflicted.
According to the Westchester County Police Department, the incident took place on July 4 at Playland Park, where undercover officers spotted a man wearing what appeared to be an FBI badge while walking a dog in a vest marked with K9 patches.
The 47-year-old claimed that both he and the dog had been shot while on duty. He showed officers a gunshot wound on his knee and alleged that the dog had bitten and killed the gunman.
Officers became suspicious, and after a nearby restaurant handed them a business card the man had been distributing for his dog-walking business, they began investigating his identity.
Police found no record of an FBI agent matching the man's name or any recent FBI K9 shooting. Instead, they uncovered an earlier New York State Police case involving him.
In that case, he had reported being shot by an intruder, but investigators concluded the injury had been self-inflicted. A search of his home at the time also reportedly uncovered illegal weapons and narcotics.
As officers escorted him to the precinct, he allegedly tried to discard the fake FBI badge by knocking it from his waistband and kicking it away.
Identified as John Fiore, he has been charged with first-degree criminal impersonation, a felony, and is scheduled to appear in Rye City Court on July 14.