OOPS

Secret Service Investigator Accidentally Tipped Off Fake DHS Agents to Probe, Feds Say

A judge on Tuesday rejected prosecutors’ request that the pair remain jailed.

A judge denied the U.S. government’s request to keep two men who allegedly posed as Homeland Security agents jailed, arguing that the government did not sufficiently prove they were a flight risk, according to Reuters. The decision came after a hearing Tuesday, where prosecutors said Arian Taherzadeh and his co-conspirator Haider Ali were accidentally tipped off to the investigation into them by the Secret Service. Taherzadeh received a message to his business email informing him of an “internal investigation” at the Secret Service, prosecutors said Tuesday. This prompted law enforcement to arrest Taherzadeh and Ali sooner than planned, according to Fox News. The two were arrested last week for allegedly posing as Department of Homeland Security agents for two years and convincing Secret Service agents to accept gifts such as iPhones, penthouse apartments, and guns. The two were charged with false impersonation of a federal officer. Four Secret Service agents were placed on administrative leave following the investigation.