LAPD Seizes Fake Fire Truck From Fake Fire Department

The LAPD, working with federal agents, raided a Brentwood home on Wednesday and confiscated a fire truck linked to a non-existent agency called the Santa Muerte Fire Department. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office says Steve Farzam has been charged with 28 felonies in connection with a "string of alleged crimes that occurred between 2023 and May of this year, including impersonating a firefighter during the Palisades Fire, assaulting a first responder and discharging a laser at aircrafts," ABC News reports. He could face more than 20 years in prison.

The DA's office says Farzam, former owner of a Santa Monica hotel, has a history of impersonating first responders going back to 1999, reports CBS News. The office says Farzam, 46, used his fake role at the fake fire department—which has a website—to obtain California-exempt license plates and firearms reserved for law enforcement. Authorities say that during Wednesday's raid, they found radios, first responder IDs, and other "first responder paraphernalia," along with fake paperwork for the Santa Muerta Fire Department. Santa Muerte means "Saint Death" in Spanish.

The fake fire truck, which had char marks, dates from the 1980s. "During the Palisades Fire he tried to badge his way into fire zones, which he successfully did at least three times—pretending to be an arson investigator," Deputy DA David Ayvazian said during Farzam's arraignment on Thursday, per ABC7. The case may be linked to a 2023 investigation in San Bernardino County, when a man identified Andrew De Boer was arrested for false imprisonment posing as a law enforcement officer, KTLA reports. At the time, De Boer was seen on surveillance video in a fake uniform, conducting an unauthorized traffic stop with a vehicle decked out in emergency lights—and a Santa Muerte badge. Uniforms with patches for the fake fire department were found at his home.