A staffer working for then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris was arrested years ago for impersonating a law enforcement officer after he claimed to be part of a police department affiliated with the Freemasons, according to multiple reports from the time.
Harris’ former deputy director of community affairs Brandon Kiel in 2015 sent a series of letters and made multiple phone calls to law enforcement agencies across California seeking to set up meetings on behalf of the so-called Masonic Fraternal Police Department (MFPD) — a fake police organization he claimed to be the “chief deputy director” of — The Sacramento Bee reported at the time. Kiel eventually secured a meeting with Capt. Roosevelt Johnson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, but was later arrested after failing to answer basic questions about the masonic police department’s purported mission and jurisdiction.
Police arrested Kiel alongside two others: David Henry, who identified himself as a masonic “grandmaster” and as the leader of the faux police force as well as a woman named Tonette Hayes, the Los Angeles Times reported. The former Harris aide was eventually charged with six counts of impersonating an officer, though had his charges dropped in 2016 after a judge ruled that police improperly searched his vehicle.
Across two separate searches, law enforcement recovered badges, identification cards, weapons, uniforms, vehicles and other law enforcement equipment in the possession of the trio, according to Buzzfeed News. Vehicles in possession of the group had been painted to resemble police cruisers, the Bee reported.
Henry, who identified himself as Kiel’s father-in-law in a 2014 YouTube video, would walk around in a dark blue police uniform and tell people he was a police chief, according to the Los Angeles Times. “He carried himself like a cop, his uniform was spot on to a regular cop uniform, we all thought he was a legit cop,” said a chef at a restaurant he frequented.
“When asked what is the difference between The Masonic Fraternal Police Department and other Police Departments the answer is simple for us,” an archived version of the now defunct MFPD website reads. “We were here first! We are born into this Organization our bloodlines go deeper then an application.”
On its website, the organization claims to be “the oldest and most respected organization in the world,” alleging that it was founded in 1,000 BC by the Knights Templar. The MFPD claimed to have 500,000 members and jurisdiction in 33 states as well as Mexico City.
“The Masonic Fraternal Police Department (M.F.P.D.) provides services to Masonic Sovereign Grand Masters and their Masonic Jurisdictions, as well as other Fraternities, Sororities and Greek Organizations,” the group’s website read.
“The attorney general appointed me. I have her authority,” Kiel said in the 2014 YouTube video while wearing what appears to be masonic regalia.
“The attorney general has been concerned about these serious allegation from the point she was first briefed on the investigation,” Harris spokesman David Beltran said at the time, according to the Bee. “Our office has been cooperating with investigators from the beginning and will continue to do so as the investigation unfolds.”
Harris’ office placed Kiel on paid leave on April 30, 2015, the day he was arrested, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Harris isn’t the only California Democrat Kiel is linked to, with the former staffer being photographed next to Rep. Maxine Waters in 2012 after his purported masonic group gave her an award, the Los Angeles Sentinel reported.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
(Featured image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/GRANDMASTER HENRY X)
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