Serial faker charged with impersonating U.S. marshal
Robert Rozycki was wearing a Chicago Fire Department T-shirt when he appeared in federal court Wednesday on charges of impersonating a deputy U.S. marshal.
But the 37-year-old River Grove man doesn’t have anything to do with the fire department.
He’s a serial faker who’s been convicted of posing as a Chicago Fire Department investigator and a police officer, records show. Now he faces charges of posing as a deputy marshal.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court accuses him of impersonating a deputy marshal twice last year. He was wearing the navy blue fire department shirt when he was arrested at home Wednesday morning
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason set a hearing for Friday when he’ll decide whether to grant a prosecutor’s request to deny Rozycki bond. Rozycki faces up to six years behind bars and a $500,000 fine if convicted on both counts.
He allegedly impersonated a deputy marshal on March 3 and May 18 last year, according to the indictment, which didn’t provide details.
But the Sun-Times first reported in January that a frightening YouTube video showed a man suspected of being Rozycki wearing a deputy marshal’s shirt and what appeared to be a gun strapped to his leg on March 3, 2013, in a McDonald’s in Wrigleyville.
He stood over a young man at a table and yelled in his face: “What’s your name? What’s your name? What’s your name? Get up! Get up right now! Stand up!”
The uniformed man then handcuffed the customer behind his back and escorted him toward the front door while other patrons watched in disbelief. Rozycki was working as a security guard at the McDonald’s at the time of the video, sources said.
Rozycki is facing a separate charge in Cook County court for allegedly posing as a sheriff ’s officer. On Sept. 28, 2011, Chicago Police officers stopped his car and Rozycki admitted he was a security officer — not a cop, according to prosecutors.
The officers found a bulletproof vest along with a police scanner and a security badge. Handcuffs and a baton were on a duty belt Rozycki was wearing, and he told the officers there was a BB gun in the glove box, prosecutors said.
Rozycki was sentenced to prison in 2005 and 1998 for impersonating a police officer. He also went to prison for impersonating a firefighter in 2009.