WASHINGTON — Two men who made national headlines after their very public arrest in D.C.'s Navy Yard were indicted Tuesday by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The men, 40-year-old Arian Taherzadeh and 35-year-old Haider Ali, both of D.C., have been accused of impersonating federal law enforcement officers.
The grand jury indicted them both on one count of false impersonation of an officer of the United States. Additionally, Taherzadeh was also indicted on two counts of unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device (one Glock magazine). Ali was also indicted on one count of unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device (five Sig Sauer magazines).
Prosecutors alleged that for the past two years Taherzadeh and Ali were falsely claiming to be federal agents and even tricked members of the president and vice president's secret service teams by showering them with gifts and fancy apartments rent-free.
Two weeks ago, the FBI raided the penthouse and four other units at a posh apartment complex in the Navy Yard neighborhood of southeast D.C. Prosecutors say FBI agents found police paraphernalia Taherzadeh and Ali shouldn't have had, ID-making equipment, fake law enforcement business cards, computers, cameras, equipment for breaking down doors and guns - which prosecutors say Taherzadeh is prohibited from having because of a domestic assault conviction in Virginia.
Prosecutors also say Ali tried to claim an affiliation with a Pakastani intelligence service and made several trips to the Middle East prior to the pandemic, including trips to Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Egypt.
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