he was going to kill everybody on the road does he just drive around whatever he wants to do and like this shouldn't go this way it was public safety Sunday January 21st 2024 Westerville Ohio near South Cleveland Avenue officers on patrol stop a vehicle that is in the midst of conducting a traffic stop the vehicle had lights and Sirens but something didn't seem right because no one had reported the activity over the radio what exactly was going on here I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime hey are you yeah disregard feh I don't know what that is I'm not familiar with it stopped this car said there been driving all over the road going to kill someone from your guys and stuff he like flagged us down and we came over here okay get some information from I don't know thanks this is not going to be a colony stop I'm going to go to three with some more information okay [Music] Federal it's going to be out of Ohio it's Ocean Frank Adam Paul 39 might come back as the Ohio fug task force not sure if this is law enforcement or what how you holding up okay thank you it's real 120 Marone all right so check it's it's coming back to your guys' HQ okay so I I don't know we'll figure out what we got going here all right the driver identified as Brendan Conlin showed officers his badge but claimed to be off duty everything appeared to be normal but things didn't quite add up the vehicle was a modified SUV that seemed to belong to a federal agent the interior resembled that of any police vehicle but there were things about the badge and details that raised doubts amongst the officers I hold on them yeah that's no I I waved them down he was going to kill everybody on the road what's going on with him dude he was going 11 on the road I got all my gear in the back I you show my credentials and everything yeah I we checked everything what's up uh he was going to I mean real problem so I I just stopped him and I flagged the uh I saw the mark Columbus Police Officer I flagged him down I said you need to [ __ ] took go talk to them right now I I flagged down the first mar car that I saw yeah I mean he a real problem on the road see he going 11 milph he was going 11 down here he tried to drive into two other cars the one person got a little bit Road ragy on him yeah and was following him like real close at the one guy that was going to like I think going go fight so I just hit the lights on him real quick and I waved the Columbus Police Officer over I said you need to get him right now pull him over he stopped right here in the middle of the section I gave him commands 11 times on my on my radio with the lights on turn right turn right turn right get off the road get off the road keep didn't follow any instructions I wasn't getting I I got no gear on right now everything's in the back right I saw the Columbus officer right here I said hey Whip around and then that's where we're at okay cool thanks a lot are we good yeah I appreciate it it's a no Ops and language line he just can't can't drive just yeah it's not his car uh do you want my card sure why not Conlin provided his explanations of what had happened and how he ended up there he presented his identification and all relevant documentation and the officers checked the equipment in the back of the vehicle his behavior was calm he cooperated and his answers were clear but no one had ever seen him before and didn't know his name and there was no record of his vehicle's license plate something was definitely wrong in the situation thank you appreciate you y thank you a good night right he he's he's always calling in stuff about there yeah yeah you guys seen him before yeah he's always over here I've never seen him before he's always calling in stuff about 48s and stuff he like people from like about people out of state never seen dud what do you want us to do with it but he's like legit though yeah he is okay that's what we were trying to figure out we were like is this guy I thought it was either you guys or then I was like oh was it security then I was like but he's no Ops and I don't know how you going handle it what's going on language line by the way too Spanish I love that yeah so right all right man make sure you get take care of have a good night good good seeing you guys appreciate you the hello um I was just going to speak with this gentleman here can you ask him his name please uhor um can you ask him if anybody and the car has a valid license to drive please uh no no we only have ID okay all right uh just tell him to sit tight and I'll be back with him so you guys never dealt with him on seconds he kind of popular I've seen the car but they were all lined up here like a felony stop I'm like what in the world I like this has got to be Franklin County and then I didn't see any marks so I was like cuz he has the yellow letters up there like it's Franklin County on the front license yeah and me and Columbus were talking and like is this guy real like is he a real does he just drive around whatever he wants to do and like yeah I gu he reads like plates and he like locations of people as the officers continue to search the vehicle that Conlin's driving they discuss among themselves what happened and the strange things that they noticed not only had no one known Brendan but his identification showed that he was from Franklin County and his vehicle had no markings to indicate that it belong belong to that County's police it could either be a case of a federal agent off duty or officers may have just encountered fraud I'm going to check this guy for warrant and all right and we're going to be done with this cuz all [Applause] good came to the door at the 1911 and wouldn't put it down so figure i' have somebody with me at [Applause] least hey Brandon hey what's going on hey you remember me from last night yeah I did what's going on so we had a couple more developments about that traffic stop can you come out and talk to me yeah yeah yeah let me get a so shoes on actually you're under arrest right now why am I under arrest for unlawful detainment you imperson the police officer I have done none of that you got a pair of Sho man I I do all right that I got one pair right there okay Jess I don't know what's happening right now I don't what is happening we'll explain it to you in just a minute but we're going to do what we need to do and make sure everybody's safe okay okay very important question do you have any weapons or anything that could hurt us on your person I do not okay is anyone going to explain anything we will ma'am give us just a minute switch Yeah anything this Pock is a sharp or anything you want to take her or him to my patrol vehicle it's first one in line I'll talk to her real quick all right okay good what what has happened arrest her for personal police officer how did I imperson a police officer I never impersonate any police officer 19 hours later after investigating Brendan's information the police found something strange which revealed a side of the story that they never expected without wasting time they visited the suspect's residents informing him that he was under arrest to which he responded with extreme confusion why were the police arresting a federal agent well the answer was quite clear last night about 15 after 12 there was a traffic stop made on South Cleveland Avenue in front of San your husband initiated that traffic stop with red and blue lights and stopped a car and detained an individual he's not a licensed police officer in the state of Ohio and that is unlawful detainment and impersonating a police officer okay so he admitted that he made that traffic stop he had his red and blue lights activated and based on the evidence that we have right now he's not and never has been a police officer he can't do that so a warrant has been filed for his arrest for unlawful detainment impersonating a police officer having fictitious plates on a vehicle and um limit of number of Lights required all of these are misdemeanor charges okay the the highest one is a M11 so there's no felony charges or anything like that he does have he has a license for bail bond bail yes right but unfortunately he made a traffic stop on somebody and stopped them okay but I know he only did that for the good of he felt like that was necessary I understand however okay the the significance of this goes a little bit beyond just the criminal law and there is a constitutional violation the fourth amendment that happened somebody's constitutional rights got violated during this and they were unlawfully detained and their Liberty was taken from them so that's why this is happening okay okay would you like my business card yes please he'll be long as he remains calm and Cooperative I'm sure he'll be able to make a phone call and stuff and um you guys can work out bail and stuff like I said it's not not the crime of the century not the end of the world it's not a felony okay so do you have any questions for me I mean this is not at this time I mean saying it's a lot we tried yeah I kind of came out of nowhere so um we were just watching the Chiefs Bills game like yeah try to be as respectful as possible no and you have been make sure the officers informed Conlin's partner of the situation and the reasons for his arrest Brendan had impersonated a police officer and unlawfully detained someone the woman was in shock from this information understanding why her partner had done what he did but nothing Justified the illegal actions he had committed this wasn't only about pretending to be an officer there was so much more to the case do you know if he has the original Ohio plate license plate for that I don't because the plate that's on there is like a plate that someone made somewhere I'm sorry I don't I don't know we'll ask that's fine any other questions for us I don't think so all right sleet key has a fle key our keys even cuz our keys open like that one and stuff like that I think our as far as remove the pl on the car it's on the road I mean I don't know Road and stuff like that I want to take the we're taking that plate off if he has the Ohio plate on it no it's both of those both of those plates are look just like front does he have an Ohio plate we haven't asked all right let's ask him let's get that information no get out of here that's why I got all my warm clothes out before we left the station I bought this right okay so first question is first do you have the original license plates that were issued to that car yes I do okay and where would they be in so cuz here's what we don't want to do those plates are fictitious okay okay they're not the original High plates that came on it correct so that being said that vehicle is parked illegally without real license plates okay I i' I've talked to the state all of that is in process I I I think that there's a miscommunication here okay okay my intention is never to impersonate law enforcement I've have never identified myself as such I am licensed with the state I am a fure recovery agent it was a safety issue on the plate just because of the nature of theob right it's the same reason that my driver's license comes back to mcone and it's a safety issue it's not to impersonate anybody it's to keep my family safe well to get to the meat and potatoes of things okay of the CU what what you're being charged with is having fictitious plates on the car okay a limit of number of Lights required which covers the fact that there's red and blue lights that were activated okay unlawful detainment because unlawful traffic stop was conducted I didn't I didn't he was already stopping sir all just let me explain I'll let you say your piece that way you have all the information okay an unlawful traffic stop was conducted an individual was retain was detained and their fourth amendment rights were violated and in the process of that red and blue lights were activated on that roadway with that address and everything coming back to 120 like that's impersonating a police officer it wasn't the intention it it was Public Safety Officer seized the license plate from Conklin's SUV to use his evidence and began taking his statements according to him he had never intended to impersonate an officer he simply tried to prevent an accident the officer noticed the suspect didn't understand regardless of his intentions that what he had done was illegal was this all just a misunderstanding on Conlin's part and who exactly was this man and it was to wave down a Columbus Police Officer which exactly what I did I never approached the individual I never got out of the car I never went to them never identified myself as anything I did it to wave down the police officer and had him go talk to them I did not detain anybody I used the lights to signal for them to come because they were going to do harm to other people on the car okay which I do have the videos along with that on how they on how they were driving okay and asking them to stop in the other cars that were waving me down MH and so I got a mark nothing that I did was to overstep the boundaries of anything I understand our separation here but that person was going to hurt somebody okay and so I wanted to get you guys involved which I did right gave you my card you did I everything I thought was above board if there's an education here if I crossed I don't think that this needs to be an arrestable situation we can figure out a way that I can say okay did I misstep in this action but my my attention here was not to do anything that you guys are saying it was public safety and it was to get you guys involved and I absolutely believe that you meant well but based on our conversation last night and the statements of the Columbus police officers there you told me that you activated your overhead lights stopped the car gave him 11 commands over the PA pull to the right you initiated I asked him to get off the roadway while the Columbus officer was coming he and the Columbus officer said you had him stopped huh the Columbus he wouldn't move he would just stopped dead in the road he he was go he was going he was going 8 miles an hour then 28 then 8 swerved a bunch of times came over uh almost hit another driver if I didn't hit the lights I I I was afraid somebody was going to get hurt this is this is very upsetting because I really am trying to do the right thing in the best way and I feel like I was very transparent and very clear with everybody on who I am and what I'm doing the suspect explained in detail what had happened to justify his actions by saying that he was only trying to help but things are not as simple as just pretending to be an officer this wasn't only about the incident from the previous evening Conlin had a modified vehicle and identified himself as a federal agent presenting a badge it wasn't a one-time thing and officers feared that Brendan had been impersonating an officer for much much longer longer you know we're under the influence or the impression at the time that I mean I even said to you oh you're Federal like you did you didn't respond you didn't correct me no no I I think he was coming out from the other side because that part of it was on the because I reviewed the footage when I got back and I heard you say that and then I I didn't respond and I'm like oh well that's why I said hey do you want my card right to make sure that there's no misunder understanding right so so our organization is a nationwide organization right but we're licensed through the state of Ohio technically are we Federal the group is but look I'm not saying I'm never I would never say I'm a federal agent or a Nationwide agent or anything like that my license is through the state of Ohio and I can show you all that license information I can give you all of my credentials I've had a great relationship with the county sheriff's office which is normally who we get involved with everybody M everything we do is supposed to be board this is a new thing that we're trying to do the right way this it shouldn't go this way after the investigation that followed the first encounter with Brendan officers discovered that the suspect's vehicle was registered to a nonprofit organization the Ohio fugitive recovery program listed as the Columbus Police division Conlin had obtained his Bail Enforcement agent license through the Ohio Department of Insurance but it didn't Grant him authority to make traffic stops and he didn't seem to understand that there are the there the warrants were filed today so the arrest is a done deal however none of these charges are a felony it doesn't matter my job my this this was something that we just stood up my real job this this could destroy my livelihood on something that I I didn't destroy their livelihood and anything that they you know I believe that they were highly intoxicated I don't know how the rest of I didn't even hang around I said hey what's their deal I gave information but I truly believe that they were going to hurt somebody what's next so what I would like to do with your permission is if you can tell me where those plates are we can have your wife get them we can like I said we're going to seize those ones um but I would like to put the original plates on it so we don't have to tow it and cause you more inconvenience um is that something you'd be willing to do the license plate I think the physical license plate is underneath the hard cover where all the computer access is on top of the tire if not in there all of the paperwork for the organization everything is in a green folder uh that is in the uh Club box and that's going to have all of our licenses and everything in there okay um she said she'll be able to pull it in and get all that squared away so you got here right the those please so yeah this is what is presented to me last [Applause] night see and that's how United States bail is that a federal when I was with the Federal Reserve all all federal badges like that all federal officers and federal agents have badges look like this I see how you would think it United States but then it's Ohio yeah see right how how you putting the badge and ID and evidence oh yeah I would take the badge and ID yeah put it in evidence that's part of this whole thing good work everyone we're going to put you in another vehicle and these officers are going to be taking you downtown um Brendan Conlin age 42 is arrested and charged with impersonating a police officer and unlawful detention a additional charges are pending and as of now he's known to be out on bond