(ICYMI) Man Convicted of Impersonating Officer During Missing Teen Search

A Douglas County jury has convicted a man on several charges, including impersonating an officer, for inserting himself into an investigation to find a missing teenager.

Paul Michael Libri apparently has done the same thing before in other areas around metro Atlanta, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office said.

“The defendant inserted himself into an investigation for a missing Douglas County teenager and represented to both the teenage girl’s family and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office that he was a law enforcement officer that specialized in finding missing teenagers,” The DA’s Office said in a news release. “Libri is not law enforcement, nor has he ever been in law enforcement. He is also not licensed as private investigator.”

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After he learned of the missing girl on social media, prosecutors said Libri told the teen’s mom that he was an investigator with the “Metro Atlanta Human Trafficking Task Force,” and that he could be more effective in finding the daughter than the local sheriff’s office. Libri asked for and received the girl’s personal identification information, including passwords and social security number, prosecutors charged.

With this info, he apparently locked her Facebook account and created a new one, though investigators weren’t clear about his motive.

Libri also called the sheriff’s office to tell authorities he was an agent with the task force and was working on the case.

“A day later, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office learned of the new Facebook account, and believed that the missing girl might be at the location of the new account,” the district attorney’s office said. “Investigators diverted their search from its previous course and instead devoted time and energy to looking for the girl at the address where the IP address of the Facebook account was located. They hoped to find the missing teenage girl at this location, and instead, law enforcement found Libri at that location, operating social media under the missing girl’s name.”

At trial, Fulton County law enforcement testified Libri had done the same thing, almost in identical circumstances, in a case there involving the search for a missing teenage girl. In that case, he apparently said he was representing the U.S. Marshals office. Libri pleaded guilty to that charge in 2014, prosecutors said.

Charges for a similar incident are pending in Cobb County, according to the Douglas DA’s office, which said Libri pretended to be with the FBI in another case of a missing teen.

Libri testified at trial, saying officers and victims were lying and that “he was the only one telling the truth,” the DA’s office said. Prosecutors said the “Metro Atlanta Human Trafficking Task Force” is registered as a non-profit with the Secretary of State, but it was created a month before the Douglas County incident and after his arrest for impersonating an officer in Fulton County.

Libri was convicted on the Douglas County charges on Friday, Aug. 7 -- two counts of impersonating an officer and single counts of identity fraud and obstruction of justice. Judge William “Beau” McClain, who said he believes Libri was motivated by “ego” and “self-aggrandizement,” sentenced him to five years in prison, followed by probation.

“Police officers and law enforcement are trained and trusted to serve and protect our community. While there is always a place for citizens to assist law enforcement in maintaining a safe community, there are proper methods for doing this that do not involve deception,” District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement. “This Defendant was concerned with self-promotion, accolades and the benefits he himself received from pretending to help. It is concerning when someone who is not trained law enforcement pretends to be so. This conviction and sentence sends a message to the Defendant that these actions will not be tolerated in Douglas County.”

Photo: Paul Michael Libri; Douglas County District Attorney Facebook