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A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to impersonating a federal officer.
On Friday (January 21), 53-year-old Reyel Devon Simmons pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Eric C. Tostrud to "one count of impersonating an officer of the United States and one count of possessing firearms as a felon," a news release from the Minnesota Department of Justice reported.
Court documents from August 17, 2021, say that the FBI was notified of Simmons pretending to be a federal agent with the United States Department of Homeland Security on TikTok.
Simmons went by "Rey Reeves" on the social media app. He had a photo of him in law enforcement gear as his profile picture and made "several posts displaying law enforcement equipment, badges, and firearms, and referring explicitly and implicitly to himself as a federal agent."
Court documents also say that Simmons carried a backpack called his "go bag." Inside the bag was a fake Department of Homeland Security badge, a handgun, and many other items to help him further his lie as an officer.
When law enforcement entered his residence, they seized eight firearms. Some of those firearms included assault rifles and sniper rifles. The guns were found in a "safe room" that could only be accessed by a hidden doorway in the basement.
Simmons also admitted to having "unregistered silencers/suppressors, detonating cord containing the explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a blasting cap, thousands of rounds of ammunition, body armor with law enforcement emblems affixed to it, and other law enforcement style badges, clothing, bags, and identification documents," the news release also stated.
Simmons has a prior felony conviction in Colorado and is prohibited "from possessing firearms, ammunition, or explosives at any time."
A sentencing hearing for Simmons will be scheduled for a later date.