An HVAC contractor in South Florida is facing felony charges after identifying himself as a CIA operative to police, who saw through the ruse and seized a trove of guns, drugs, bulletproof vests, and bogus federal credentials from the man’s pickup truck — which had been outfitted to look like a law enforcement vehicle, according to authorities.
Jorge Alberto Alfonso, 61, was driving a white Ford F-150 on New Year’s Day, with red and blue emergency lights flashing, when he was spotted by the Florida Highway Patrol, states an arrest report filed Thursday and reviewed by The Independent.
Although the truck, at first glance, looked quasi-official, a trooper monitoring traffic from the median of I-75 became suspicious upon spotting a woman in the front passenger seat “waving her arms, appearing upset or distressed,” the arrest report goes on. It says the trooper pulled the truck over and was explaining the reason for the stop when Alfonso “interrupted, claiming his K9, seated in the back, accidentally activated the red and blue lights.”
According to the arrest report, Alfonso then “identified himself as a federal agent, providing a CIA Counter Terrorism Unit ID, a CIA emblem coin in a badge wallet, and an MI-6 [sic] ID,” referring to the UK’s foreign intelligence service.
Apparently confused by the unorthodox array of documentation, the trooper asked Alfonso for his specific affiliation, to which Alfonso replied, simply, “federal,” the arrest report continues.
The trooper took a closer look at the IDs Alfonso handed over, and immediately became skeptical, the report states. For starters, Alfonso was wearing a skullcap in the ID photos, which the trooper knew were prohibited for law enforcement IDs, it contends. Further, the format and design of the IDs “didn’t match known… federal standards,” and “instead of a badge, a challenge coin was affixed,” according to the report.
“Based on the fraudulent IDs, emergency lights in a personal vehicle, and Jorge’s inability to verify his agency, I arrested him for impersonating a law enforcement officer,” the report says.
During a follow-up inspection of Alfonso’s truck, which was impounded, troopers found at least a half-dozen firearms; assorted passports, including blank ones; federal agency badges; bulletproof vests; money; jewelry; and pills in unmarked bottles, according to the report.
Alfonso was booked into Collier County’s Naples Jail Center on false personation of a law enforcement officer, a felony, and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, a misdmeanor. The arrest report says the Florida Highway Patrol contacted the FBI, Border Patrol, and the Diplomatic Security Service, each of which initiated their own investigations.
Alfonso, who remains detained, does not have a lawyer listed in court records. A call on Friday to his personal cell phone went straight to voicemail, and a number listed for his office was disconnected. His company, Air-Source International Corporation, was founded “[t]o foster a sense of accomplishment and enthusiasm in a culture of proud people.”
“We demand honesty and integrity from our employees so clients are assured of predictable and conscientious building services,” the Air-Source International website tells prospective customers.
Alfonso is scheduled to be arraigned on January 27, booking records show.
