A 22-year-old man, flashing a Broward sheriff's badge, claimed to be an undercover deputy to get a discount on a firearm at a gun shop, authorities said.
He also tried to trade a firearm and other accessories, including sunglasses, to make the deal, they said.
But his outlook was far from sunny. When the shop owner became suspicious, real deputies were called to the Tactical Firearms store in Pompano Beach on Monday and arrested Christopher Everhardt, of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, according to a BSO report.
Everhardt was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer and attaching a registration that was not assigned to a license plate, records show. He was ordered held on a $7,500 bond.
According to the report, Everhardt first visited the gun store at 161 S. Cypress Road on Saturday, when he told the shop owner he was a "Broward sheriff's deputy working undercover out of the Hollywood area."
A surveillance camera inside the business captured the exchange and recorded Everhardt pulling a "star-style" badge from his pocket and handing it to the shop owner, the report said.
Partly because he drove a plain gray Dodge Charger equipped with the type of spotlights used by police, the store's owner initially found Everhardt's claim credible. When Everhardt returned to the store on Monday again asking for a deal, the gun store owner became suspicious, the report said.
Everhardt wanted to trade another firearm he brought, along with several high-capacity magazines, handcuffs, holsters, loose ammunition and sunglasses, it said.
The shop owner called authorities to report the suspicious activity. When deputies arrived, Everhardt refused to answer questions about his supposed employment with BSO, the agency said.
But an employment check revealed that he was not an employee of BSO or any other law enforcement agency, officials said. The badge Everhardt allegedly carried was submitted into evidence..
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