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A Virginia man has pleaded guilty to impersonating a federal officer at a Falls Church polling site for the 2024 general elections.
According to court documents, on Election Day, Alex Chieu Nguyen, 44, of Annandale, showed up at Timber Lane Elementary School in a black SUV around 9:30 a.m. He was wearing dark sunglasses, a blue zip-up sweatshirt with the FBI logo and a fraudulent badge. Documents say Nguyen was also carrying an air pistol in a holster.
Charging documents say Nguyen approached election officials and told them he was assigned to the FBI’s “Election Security,” and was there to ensure that everything was secure and things were going well. After about 10 minutes, he left the polling location.
Later that day, around 4:30 p.m., Nguyen came back. He went inside the building and was stopped by the polling site’s chief election official, who asked to see his credentials. Nguyen presented his bogus badge and a fraudulent credential identifying him as a special agent of the FBI.
Nguyen left the school again, and was arrested later that day. Charging documents say after his arrest, he explained why he pretended to be an FBI agent.
“He further claimed that he had done so to experience feeling respected and that he did not have a political motive,” the documents say.
Nguyen faces up to three years in prison for the crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 14, 2027.
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