Feds: Armed man walked into Red Bank hospital, said he was DEA agent

TRENTON – A Tinton Falls man was indicted Friday on charges of impersonating an agent from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration after police said he brought a gun to the hospital, said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Wesley Rucker, 36, was being treated at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank on Oct. 22, 2021, when hospital staff noticed that he was carrying a handgun in the waistband of his pants.

Rucker told the staff and later borough police that he was a federal law enforcement officer and showed them fraudulent credentials that appeared to confirm he was a DEA employee, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

Rucker is charged by indictment with one count each of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, false impersonation of an officer of the United States and possession of imitation federal law enforcement credentials.

If convicted on all counts, Rucker could be sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison and be required to pay $505,000 in fines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Bryan Miller of the Newark Division, led the criminal investigation into Rucker, Sellinger said.

The Red Bank Police Department also assisted in the investigation, he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian D. Brater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton is leading the prosecution team in federal court.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Adam Axel in Trenton is representing Rucker in the case.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.