A 64-year-old Florida man, William Dennis Milstead, was arrested last week after authorities uncovered his elaborate scheme to pose as an undercover police officer in an attempt to bypass a background check.
Milstead faces charges of falsely impersonating a law enforcement officer, making a false statement to obtain property, and using a two-way communication device to commit a felony, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
The arrest came after a real estate agency alerted the FDLE about Milstead’s suspicious behavior. He had attempted to lease a residential property while avoiding the agency’s mandatory background check.
To support his claim, Milstead submitted a forged letter, purportedly from an assistant captain of the FDLE’s fictitious “Off Grid Command Unit.”
In the letter, riddled with grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, Milstead claimed to be an undercover FDLE agent who worked “off-grid” and therefore could not undergo standard background screening.
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The document requested the agency to waive its requirements, citing “agent safety” concerns and asserting that Milstead had been employed with the FDLE since October 2006, with plans to retire in three years.
“We ask that you make an exception to limit the background/credit check on William Dennis Milstead due to the security needed to protect our agent safety and rely solely on this letter of recommendation from the FDLE and State of Florida,” the letter stated.
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Milstead’s attempt to deceive the agency unraveled when investigators discovered his extensive criminal history. The FDLE confirmed he had been arrested 13 times on felony charges, including two prior incidents of impersonating a law enforcement officer in 2002 and 2016.
Milstead was taken into custody on November 13 and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail. He was released on November 15 after posting an $11,000 bond, jail records indicate.
The case remains under investigation by the FDLE’s Orlando office. Authorities are continuing to probe the extent of Milstead’s actions and whether there may be additional victims or fraudulent activities linked to his impersonation scheme.
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