Top Prosecutor's Office Probes 2nd Worker Posing As Officer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An aide to California Attorney General Kamala Harris charged with impersonating a police officer last month isn't the only employee from the top prosecutor's office to be investigated for posing as a member of law enforcement.
About a year before Brandon Kiel's arrest, Adrienne Mayr was arrested after repeatedly flashing the badge of a dead attorney general at drivers in Los Angeles County.
Mayr, 50, a secretary with the state Department of Justice, was charged with unlawful use of a badge and impersonating a public officer, The Los Angeles Times reports. Court records show she pleaded no contest to using the badge. The second charge was dismissed.
The department has an ongoing personnel investigation into the matter, Harris spokesman David Beltran told The Times. "We can't comment on disciplinary action that may be taken, but this case is serious and troubling," Beltran said.
Following inquiries from The Times, Mayr was placed on administration leave, the newspaper reported.
Unlike Mayr, Kiel was charged with two other people and arrested after allegedly claiming to operate a police department called the Masonic Fraternal Police Order with jurisdiction in 33 states and Mexico and that traces its roots back 3,000 years, authorities said.
Kiel, 31, worked as deputy director of community affairs at the California Department of Justice since July 2013. He was placed on paid administrative leave.
The California Highway Patrol began investing Mayr after receiving a complaint from a driver who said the Department of Justice worker had flashed a badge at her while driving on several occasions. When investigators asked Mayr why she had the badge, she said it was a keepsake from a colleague.
The late colleague's wife and son said they did not know Mayr and hadn't given her permission to use the badge.
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