Fire Truck Seized From LA Man With Decades-Long History Of Posing As Firefighter: Reports

LOS ANGELES, CA — A fire truck was among the items sized from a Pacific Palisades home raided by federal agents this week as part of a case involving a fictitious fire department and two men long accused of impersonating first responders.

Authorities, including the Los Angeles Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, served three search warrants Wednesday at several properties on the Westside, including a home on the 100 block of South Rockingham Avenue, off Sunset Boulevard, police said.

One of the items taken from the home and impounded at a tow yard was a fire truck registered to "the Santa Muerte Fire Department" — which does not actually exist, despite having its own website and phone number. The phony agency is linked to a 2023 investigation in San Bernardino County, KTLA reported.

In that case, Andrew De Boer, of Chino Hills, was caught on surveillance cameras conducting a traffic stop in his Ford F-350 truck with California-exempt plates, fire department decals, and emergency lights. He was dressed in a uniform with a Santa Muerte badge and carried a gun, baton and pepper spray, KTLA reported.

De Boer, then 42, was arrested on a charge of impersonating a law enforcement officer and false imprisonment. Investigators searched his home and found body armor, guns, badges and uniforms with Santa Muerte patches, KTLA reported.

He pleaded guilty to the felony false imprisonment charge in April and was sentenced to two years of probation.

But it was a different man linked to the fictitious Santa Muerte Fire Department, who was arrested this week as part of the seizure of the fire truck in the Palisades.

That man — Steve Farzam, 46 — faces 28 criminal counts after properties associated with him were searched:

• discharge laser at occupied aircraft — six counts
• assault with deadly weapon (not a firearm) — three counts
• assault with deadly weapon (not a firearm) on a police officer or firefighter likely to cause great bodily injury — four counts
• impersonating a fire officer — three counts
• trespassing on closed lands — three counts
• impersonation of public officer, investigator or inspector
• carrying a loaded firearm in public under specific circumstances
• perjury — seven counts
• procuring and offering false or forged instrument

Police said that during the searches of Farzam's various properties, investigators seized items including two utility vehicles, police/fire light package equipment for vehicles, radios, first-responder identifications, a fire engine, ammunition, bogus documents relating to a fictitious fire department and other first-responder paraphernalia.

The criminal complaint, obtained by Patch, offers a few details about the allegations against Farzam.

He's accused of wearing a uniform and other insignia and representing himself as a deputy state fire marshal and member of a fire department. He also "arrested" and detained a person, intimidated that person, conducted a search, and obtained money as part of his impersonation of a public official, according to court documents.

The assault charges stem from multiple indents in which he's accused of shining lasers at California Highway Patrol and LAPD helicopters and two commercial airliners.

Farzam is being held without bail, jail records show.

Farzam has long been accused of impersonating first responders, dating back at least three decades. A 2020 long-form article in The Atavist magazine labeled him a "serial impersonator of law-enforcement and rescue professionals."

According to the report, a fire truck and weapons were among the items seized from Farzam's home about a decade ago as part of an investigation that yielded 77 charges against Farzam. He pleaded no contest to three charges and was sentenced to 182 days behind bars.

A neighbor told KTLA this week that the truck has been parked outside Farzam's home for years and would be taken to community events.

Farzam made news during the coronavirus pandemic as an executive of a company known as 911 COVID Testing, which operated large-scale virus-testing sites on the Westside.

It's unclear how exactly Farzam and De Boer are connected or the specifics of their shared association with the phony fire department. It has a website that identifies it as being in El Centro. It also has a phone number with an elaborate phone tree that includes recorded information and extensions for callers to report arson or inquire about recruitment.

Related:

• Arsonist, Dressed As Fireman, Drove Real Fire Truck To Sneak Into Palisades Fire Zone: LASD

City News Service contributed to this report.