Source: Bill Hennessy A judge on Tuesday granted bail to two men in Washington, DC, who are criminally accused of impersonating federal law enforcement agents. Prosecutors said during a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Washington that they may appeal against Judge Michael Harvey’s decision to order the release of the men, Haider Ali and Arian Taherzadeh. Harvey said the men, who have been in jail since their arrest last week, could be released into custody by relatives living in the Washington area and will be confined to those homes and monitored by global satellite tracking devices. Harvey remained in custody until 9 a.m. Wednesday to give prosecutors time to decide whether to appeal his bail. Prosecutors, who said the men who tricked Secret Service agents and others into claiming to be Homeland Security agents, asked Harvey to keep both men awaiting trial, calling them a threat to the public. Testimony in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, by the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia Courtesy: U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia A crypt with weapons and police equipment was found in apartments held by the men, who lent two expensive apartments to two Secret Service agents, prosecutors said. They also called Ali a flight hazard, given his travel history to Pakistan and Iran. Prosecutors said that while the men claimed to have been involved in covert operations for DHS, they “pulled out US Secret Service personnel (USSS) involved in security details and accessed the White House complex by giving them gifts, including rent. without rent. Zoe.” But Harvey said the case did not meet the standards for denying bail to an accused, especially since neither is charged with a crime of violence. “In a case like this, release should be the rule,” Harvey said. “It is not a crime of violence. It is a felony, but it is a felony with a maximum prison term of three years.”
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Read more about CNBC political coverage: The judge also noted that if the duo were convicted of the crime, the sentencing instructions would amount to a prison sentence of zero to six months, the lowest possible length of imprisonment under those instructions. Four intelligence agents who had contact with the men have been placed on administrative leave. Among the witnesses against the men are Secret Service agents assigned to the protective detail of First Lady Jill Biden and the White House.
