Two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers arrested a man over the weekend for impersonating a FEMA agent.
According to CHP Public Information Officer Matt Napier, CHP officers Graham Aanestad and Mike Bell responded to a call at 5:58 p.m. on March 21 at Village Center Drive just south of North Circle Drive for someone possibly impersonating a law enforcement officer.
The subject, Pierre Jurgen Alexander Hormann, 72 of Idyllwild, was cooperative when CHP made contact. Hormann claimed he was trying to solicit work by asking people if they needed help during the COVID-19 crisis.
He was impersonating a FEMA agent, was found with multiple false IDs and two fake badges, a pistol and ammunition, as well as a counterfeit conceal carry weapons permit. He was arrested and booked into Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
“We don’t want people to not trust law enforcement, but we don’t want people to get scammed either,” Napier said. “Legitimate law enforcement of any kind shouldn’t be soliciting money in any way. While it’s true that some agencies operate in ‘plain clothes,’ most law enforcement are in uniform and marked vehicles.”
On March 23 at 9:51 p.m., a profile under the name of Pierre Alexander posted to the Idyllwild Bulletin Board Facebook Group referencing CHP’s post about the arrest that CHP was mistaken, and that Alexander is a member of FEMA and has never identified as a law enforcement officer.
Napier was contacted the following morning and responded with, “The stuff found on his person was counterfeit and not legitimate. Currently, he has not tried to contact us. Obviously, he’ll have a court date and if he wants to present his case there that’s when it will happen. If he does approach us, we’ll refer him to his court date so he can present whatever evidence he’d like.”
