GRANT COUNTY, Wash. — The Grant County Sheriff's Office is warning residents about two people who posed as a deputy and someone from Child Protective Services.
A man and woman arrived at a home in the 14000 block of Road 4-Northeast just outside of Moses Lake on Sunday, Jan. 18. They told the homeowner they were from law enforcement and CPS, and asked if they could enter the home to check on the children living there, the sheriff's office said.
The homeowner initially allowed the two inside but became suspicious when the woman went back to the car and sat inside. According to the sheriff's office, the homeowner then told the man not to enter the home and warned him that he was going to get his gun.
When the homeowner returned, the man and woman were gone, the sheriff's office said.
The man identified himself as a Grant County Sheriff's deputy, but there is no record of any law enforcement agency or Child Protective Services representative assigned to a case at that home.
It's likely that the two were impersonating officials in order to gain access to the home for "reasons yet unknown," the sheriff's office said, but possibly to lay the groundwork for committing future crimes.
In Washington state, first-degree criminal impersonation is a class C felony. This includes pretending to be a public servant and committing an act "in his or her pretended capacity with intent to defraud another or for any other unlawful purpose."
The man is described as six feet, two inches tall, having a light brown complex with brown hair in a crew cut, and clean shaven, the sheriff's office said. He was wearing a black polo without any logo, green tactical style pants and black shoes. He wore aviator sunglasses and had a tattoo on the left side of his neck.
The woman is described as white with long brown hair, weighing 170 pounds and wearing a black dress with thick shoulder straps.
Both suspects arrived and left in a gray Chevrolet Impala with an unknown license plate, the sheriff's office said. There are no images or video of the incident.
Anyone who is approached or contacted by people matching the above descriptions should ask to inspect their official credentials to verify their identities, the sheriff's office said. If in doubt, call MACC Dispatch at 509-762-1160 in order to confirm someone's identity.
