Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
A young congressional staffer for Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) was quietly fired last year after he faked being an FBI agent and led cops on a chase through the capital, resulting in a weeks-long nationwide manhunt.
It took four different law enforcement agencies three months to eventually catch up with the staffer 500 miles away. And it was only after a Secret Service agent managed to track down the online shops that sold the staffer mock “federal agent” gear and a bogus license plate for his fake police car—decked out with a siren and flashing lights—that authorities were able to arrest him.
The congressional staffer in question, Sterling Devion Carter, admitted in court to openly carrying a firearm illegally. Federal prosecutors dropped the law enforcement impersonation charge, and he narrowly avoided prison time. (When Carter pleaded guilty at 24, he barely made the age cutoff to take part in a local District of Columbia prison diversion program for young first-time offenders, according to his lawyer.)