A South Dakota man who allegedly posed as a DEA agent, robbed a Tustin man and then stole from the victim's family earlier this month was traced by police to an Anaheim Motel 6, where he was busted.
James Robert Anderson, 35, was held on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping and burglary, according to the Tustin Police Department.
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Claiming to be a Drug Enforcement Agency officer, Anderson allegedly took a man's cash and identification in Santa Ana on Dec. 10.
Anderson is also accused that night of going to the man's home in the 15000 block of Pasadena Avenue in Tustin and confronting the robbery victim's wife. Showing her a badge and identification to pass himself off as a DEA agent, Anderson allegedly told the woman her husband had been busted on drug charges. He then is said to have ordered everyone in the residence to empty their wallets, explaining the money would be returned once he completed the “investigation.”
Speaking of money, Anderson has to come up with $100,000 bail. And, speaking of being ripped off, if you think you have been by the suspect, call Tustin Police at 714.573.3267.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.