Posted on 03/04/2004 7:06:16 AM PST by jtminton
FORT WORTH - They wore black suits, flashed federal badges and identified themselves as an FBI agent and a federal attorney.
But police say the man and woman who walked into a south side car lot and repair shop Tuesday, announcing that they were conducting a federal investigation, were phonies, right down to the names on their fake identification cards.
"I checked with the FBI and there is no FBI agent Erik Estrada nor is there a federal attorney Julia Stiles," joked robbery Sgt. Kevin Morton. "It looked like they just pulled actors' names."
Estrada is perhaps best known for his role as a motorcycle cop "Ponch" on the popular 1970s television show CHiPs, and Stiles for her roles in the movies 10 Things I Hate About You, and more recently, Mona Lisa Smile.
Police arrested Abhishek Sharma, 25, of Euless, and Charlotte Kelkar, 17, of Keller, after the owners of Five Star Motors -- a husband and wife who were being questioned by the so-called agents -- managed to tell a shop mechanic in Vietnamese to call police.
Police say the pair tried to convince the owners that an employee was the subject of a federal investigation, then offered freedom from prosecution if the agents were given $9,000 and a vehicle with a title.
Sharma and Kelkar were being held in the Mansfield Jail with bail set at $150,000 on suspicion of aggravated robbery and impersonating a public servant. Kelkar also faces a charge of tampering with evidence after police say they found her trying to destroy a fake ID card in the back of a patrol car.
Employees told police that the pair entered the business in the 9500 block of Parkview Drive about noon and said they had traced phone calls from an FBI agent's stolen cellular phone to an employee at that location. Employees were ordered to turn off the business's electricity and not make any phone calls, according to a police report.
The pair led the shop's owners into a back room, where they told them that $9,000 in cash and a vehicle with a clear title would make the investigation go away, the report stated.
"It appears they were making the allegation that if they did not do that, they would face some type of federal prosecution," Morton said.
The husband tried to leave to call police, but the man pulled a gun and threatened him, Morton said. The gun was later determined to be an air pistol, he said.
Morton said the ordeal went on four hours before police were summoned.
"What is really kind of humorous is even after the police showed up, they still tried to continue the con," Morton said.
The pair gave officers a local number for police to call and confirm that they were agents. That number, however, went only to voice mail, the report stated.
When asked for additional identification, the woman told officers that Washington, D.C., agents are not required to carry such identification, Morton said.
Morton said police also seized a briefcase that was filled with fake federal documents with the names of other actors and even a county clerk.
"It looks like they cut and pasted the Department of Justice seal on it -- just essentially something you could do with any word processing program," Morton said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deanna Boyd, (817) 390-7655 dboyd@star-telegram.com
Probably needed the car and money to get to San Francisco to get married.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.