Arian Taherzadeh, sketch from detention hearing for the two men charged with impersonating DHS agents.
Source: Bill Hennessy
A judge granted bail Tuesday to two Washington, D.C., men criminally charged with impersonating federal law enforcement agents.
The ruling by Judge G. Michael Harvey in federal court for the District of Columbia came a week after the arrest of the men, Haider Ali and Arian Taherzadeh. Harvey said the men can be released into the custody of relatives, who live in the Washington area.
Prosecutors, who said the men who duped Secret Service agents and others with their claims of being Department of Homeland Security agents, had asked Harvey to detain both men without bail pending their trial, calling them a threat to the public.
Filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia
Courtesy: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia
A cache of weapons and police equipment were found in apartments maintained by the men, who loaned two expensive apartments to two Secret Service agents, according to prosecutors.
But Harvey said that the case did not meet the standards for denying bail to a defendant, particularly since neither man is charged with a crime of violence.
“In a case like this, release should be the norm,” Harvey said.
“It’s not a crime of violence. It is a felony, but it is a felony with a maximum period of incarceration of three years.”
The judge also noted that if the duo is convicted of the crime, sentencing guidelines to recommend a jail term of just zero to six months, the lowest possible range for incarceration under those guidelines.
Four Secret Service agents who had contact with the men have been placed on administrative leave.
Among the witnesses against the men are Secret Service agents who were assigned to first lady Jill Biden’s protective detail and the White House.
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