Police: After Blowing Up Pill Bottles, Man Pretended to Be Officer Investigating Them

If you're going to explode pill bottles in a parking lot, pretending to be a police officer while you clean up will only make things worse.

That's what police said happened last week in the parking lot of Driving Loyalty, a marketing firm at 315 Clay Street.

Cedar Falls police arrested Dustin Cory Balm, 25, of 321 Clay Street, at 12:12 a.m. Oct. 11. He was charged with impersonating a public official.

Police said Balm was cleaning up exploded pill bottles in the marketing firm's parking lot when an employee asked what he was doing.

Displaying a police badge on his belt, Balm allegedly said he was investigating the pill bottles. Police said the employee thought something wasn't right and called the actual police.

A search of Balm's apartment led to the discovery of model rockets that may have been used to explode the pill bottles, police said.