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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

That Was No U.S. Marshal!

LAKEPORT, Calif. (CN) - A man who said he was U.S. Marshal approached a crime victim for a statement on Wed. Aug. 22 , the Lake County Sheriff's Department reported, but left before deputies could question him.

As deputies looked into the matter, they learned that the supposed Marshal was Hector Molinar, a registered sex offender, and that he was already under investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service for impersonating a federal agent, the report continued.

Molinar, 66, had been convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 or 15 years of age and with continuous sexual abuse of a child, according to California's online sex offender registry. Dates of his convictions were not available.

When deputies caught up with Molinar at his home in Hidden Valley, Calif., he told them he was "a Marshal for the United States Tribal Court." The U.S. Marshals Service, however, said he did not work for them, and deputies arrested Molinar for possession of false federal identification, the press release said.

A search of Molinar's home turned up "numerous items associated with what appears to be a non-existent federal agency.

Molinar had an elaborate assortment of law enforcement equipment, which included two Tasers, body armor, multiple identification cards, Marshal badges, a duty belt with pouches and three air-soft pellet guns that were modified to look like real firearms," according to the sheriff's department's statement.

He was then additionally charged with "being a convicted felon in possession of body armor, obstructing a police officer, possession of a Taser by a convicted felon and altering an imitation firearm to look like a real firearm."

The investigation is ongoing.

Officials with the U.S. Marshals Service were not available to comment on the case by press time.

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