DIY deportation: Amazingly easy

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, February 4, 2010 - 2:12 PM Share

It turns out that deporting someone from the United States, even if you're not a federal official or law enforcement officer, is not all that hard:

Wearing a fake badge and a shirt imprinted with "U.S. Federal Agent," Gregory Denny, 37, turned up at the Hemet home of Craig Hibbard, a distant cousin, on Jan. 15, said Lt. Duane Wisehart of the Hemet Police Department.

Displaying what turned out to be a pellet gun, Denny reportedly handcuffed Hibbard's wife, Cherrie Belle, and told the couple she was being deported, Wisehart said. Denny allegedly drove Belle, 28, to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection station in Murrieta.

When he was told there was no warrant for her in the computer system, Denny apparently returned to the couple's house and instructed her husband to purchase a ticket for her online to her home country, Wisehart said.

Police were told Denny drove the woman to San Diego International Airport, where he flashed his fake badge to get through security. He allegedly escorted her to the departure gate, uncuffed her and watched her board a plane to San Francisco en route to Manila, where she remains.

So all you need is a t-shirt and a fake badge to escort a prisoner into an airport? Denny doesn't seem all that bright -- he reported to a local police station still wearing his t-shirt and identifying himself as a federal marshall -- but he does seems to have flummoxed several federal agencies in this caper.

I suspect this is going to make a number of people consider whether they have any relatives they'd like to send on a long trip somewhere.

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