Police: Man pretended to be a federal marshal
He had previously stolen a phone from Boynton Best Buy.
John O’Grady strolled through the Boynton Beach Best Buy with a badge on his belt, gun on his hip.
BOYNTON BEACH — With a U.S. marshal’s badge on his belt and a gun on his hip, John O’Grady strolled through a Best Buy store Wednesday afternoon.
It was the same North Congress Avenue store from which he reportedly stole an iPhone X a few days prior, an employee told Boynton Beach police when the employee called to have the 61-yearold removed from the store for trespassing.
When officers approached the Boynton Beach man, he said he was a U.S. marshal. The pin on his gray suit, the badge and the gun seemed to confirm that.
But O’Grady had no identification and could not name his supervisor.
He eventually conceded that no, he was not a U.S. marshal, and the “firearm” on his hip was a BB gun.
Authorities arrested O’Grady on charges of impersonating a law-enforcement officer and retail theft. They reportedly found the stolen iPhone in O’Grady’s vehicle.
O’Grady was released later that afternoon from the Palm Beach County Jail on a $6,000 surety bond, records show.