One of the aides to California Attorney Gen. Kamala Harris was arrested on Wednesday, along with three other people, for their involvement in a fictitious police force and impersonating law enforcement officials.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the news first came to light when two people dressed in police uniforms entered the Santa Clarita police station and had a meeting with the captain.
Sheriff's Capt. Roosevelt Johnson said that was the first time he ever saw the officers, who claimed to be from the "Masonic Fraternal Police Department."
“It was an odd meeting,” he recalled. “It just raised my suspicion level.”
Going on that suspicion, he assigned detectives to check out the two individuals who were captured on the station's surveillance video.
NBC News noted that the sheriff’s office said that other police departments in Southern California were getting similar requests from the men to speak with police chiefs.
"Detectives conducted a thorough investigation in collaboration with several law enforcement agencies and determined MFPD was not a legitimate police agency," the sheriff's department added.
Those arrested include 36-year-old Brandon Kiel, who is the deputy director of community affairs at the California Department of Justice, David Henry, 46, and Tonette Hayes, 56.
The attorney general’s office said that Kiel was placed on administrative leave.
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