http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/ ... Hunter.php


California bounty hunter charged with impersonating US agent to arrest fugitives

The Associated Press
Monday, December 18, 2006
SACRAMENTO
A bounty hunter charged with impersonating federal agents says he was only doing the government's work — arresting fugitives wanted for immigration violations.

Federal agents say Jeremy Christian Brickner went too far, identifying himself as a U.S. immigration agent when he captured three people earlier this year.

Brickner, 30, is charged with falsely identifying himself while detaining one immigrant overnight Oct. 23 and while holding a mother and her 10-year-old daughter on May 11. He is charged with carrying a gun, handcuffs, a badge and business cards identifying him as a "deportation agent."

Brickner now faces up to six years in prison. He served a week in jail before he was released Friday after pleading not guilty and posting a $100,000 (€76,365) bond, the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco said Monday.

"All bounty hunters push the limits and break the rules — that's how you get the job done," Brickner said Monday in a telephone interview.

He operates a business called ICE Warrant Detail from his Sacramento home, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by Derek Ohlander, a senior special agent with the federal office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — or ICE — in San Francisco.

On Monday, he described himself as a bounty hunter who has worked cooperatively with federal immigration authorities for three years, turning over 188 fugitives in at least eight U.S. states.

"We're serving them up on a silver platter," Brickner said.

He also has been in trouble previously. Twice last year, he pleaded guilty to carrying weapons illegally, according to the affidavit. One time he was carrying a loaded gun, a Taser and a baton while using an illegal red flashing light to pull over a motorist in California. In the other, he tried to check a handgun before boarding a passenger airline at New York's Kennedy Airport.

On both occasions, he flashed identification saying he was a fugitive-recovery agent, the affidavit said.

Brickner is due back in San Francisco federal court Wednesday.


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