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Marine charged with impersonating an agent

A Virginia-based Marine suspected of impersonating a federal law-enforcement agent has been locked up in a Navy brig since early October, but investigators won’t say much about the case or why it took nearly two weeks to file charges against him.

Lance Cpl. Jason Allen Stevens, 20, was apprehended Oct. 9 and placed in the brig at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., where he was assigned to Headquarters Company, Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, as a rifleman. Officials accused him of pretending to be an agent with Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division after they recovered police gear and a badge belonging to a Marine Corps Security Force Company.

Those units are tasked with guarding high-value naval assets such as nuclear-powered vessels and weapons. CID Marines operate within a Provost Marshall’s Office and investigate minor felonies, such as drug possession and domestic abuse.

Stevens was charged Oct. 21 with wrongfully failing to register and properly store a firearm, making a false official statement, stealing government property worth $500 or less, impersonating a U.S. government official and unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon, said Lt. Col. Matt Morgan, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Command in Norfolk.

Officials won’t disclose much else.

Stevens claimed to be a CID agent for “a few weeks” beginning in late September, said Ed Buice, a spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, which conducted the investigation along with the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Last month, when NCIS reported Stevens had been detained, officials released a photo of him along with a handful of other images showing the badge he allegedly carried, a blue bulletproof vest with police markings, and a white sport utility vehicle, which Stevens allegedly outfitted with strobe lights to make it look like a law-enforcement vehicle, Buice said.

A few witnesses contacted detectives after local media reported Stevens’ detainment, Buice said. He declined to provide any other information.

Stevens enlisted in September 2007 in Owego, N.Y. Norfolk is his first duty station.