Frauds, Fakes, Or Fabulous
Oct 9, 2008 10:24 pm US/Eastern
Accused Police Impersonator Has Dozens Of Arrests
HIALEAH (CBS4) ―
Tairen Olandis Gage was hauled up in Miami-Dade bond court Thursday afternoon on charges of impersonating a police officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. It made the 36th time he had been arrested in his 21 years of life.
Real police officers took Gage into custody Wednesday after he allegedly wandered around a Staples office supply store in Hialeah, wearing a police-type uniform, all black, with a badge on his shirt, a police hat on his head and gun on his hip. Employees called police after they say Gage tried to steal a laptop computer. They got a good look at the car he was driving, and cops stopped the black Chevy Tahoe a few minutes later on the ramp to the Palmetto Expressway at Okeechobee Road.
In the SUV they found police paraphernalia, including a hat with a "special agent" logo, what appeared to be a bullet proof vest, and two guns. The guns were pellet guns, but very realistic looking, according to Hialeah police detective Carl Zogby.
"The gun in his holster," Zogby said, "looks a lot like a real gun. It was a very close replica of a real gun."
Police believe Gage, wearing his police get-up, stole a computer from a Circuit City store on West 49th Street on August 20th, and tried to steal a TV from a K-Mart a couple of blocks away. At the K-Mart, he was thwarted by employees who confronted him, police say.
Investigators say they don't know what else Gage may have done under color of his police-type uniform.
"We're hoping that now that his face is on TV, other victims will come forward."
Gage has a rap sheet longer than he is tall. The printout provided by police was more than 9 feet long, and began with a grand theft arrest when Gage was eleven years old. Dozens of subsequent arrests included charges of car theft, battery, taking a weapon to school, and burglary.
He had a burglary charge and a theft charge pending against him when he was arrested Wednesday.
Despite his lengthy history of arrest, Gage has never spent significant time in jail.
Ed Griffith, a spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, characterized Gage as a "burglar, a thief, but not a violent career criminal." Griffith said that most of Gage's prior arrests came when he was a juvenile, and that juvenile records "cannot be considered on a conviction in adult court."
A judge who heard three burglary cases against Gage in adult court, consolidated the cases and sentenced him to probation for all three.
Among Gage's other arrests as an adult were trespassing, petty theft and misdemeanor assault.
In court Thursday afternoon Gage was ordered held on $31,000 bond.
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