Entertainment> Celebrities

Wannabe Brangelina bodyguard arrested

2006-09-15 10:08

Be careful whom you allegedly impersonate while trying to get close to Brangelina. Someone might want to make a federal case out of it.

A man was arrested Thursday for impersonating a federal employee after purportedly telling Sunset Protective Services and Investigations--the firm that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie rely on for security--that he was a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

When applying for a position with the company, bodyguard Nelson Mercado, 46, specifically asked to be assigned to Pitt and Jolie's security detail, according to court documents obtained by E! News. Per the indictment filed in U.S. District Court, Mercado was carrying a phony DHS credential and driving a Ford Crown Victoria (your typical law enforcement car) with tinted windows and police lights that was fraudulently registered to the government agency.

The Torrance, California, resident allegedly kept up the charade from August 2005 to May 2006. Before requesting Brangelina duty, Mercado says that he worked as a security consultant and professional bodyguard for a number of people, including athletes and entertainers, according to the indictment.

Mercado is facing up to three years in federal prison if he's convicted.

Meanwhile, it certainly seems as if Jolie and Pitt are attracting far more felonious behavior while together than either celebrity ever did on his or her own.

A Jordanian salesman was arrested in Dubai in June after he used a fake I.D. with Pitt's photograph--but not his name--on it in an attempt to collect more than $23,000 from a currency exchange bureau. Apparently not looking like Brad Pitt gave him away. The man claimed not to know who Pitt was, saying he had downloaded a random photo from the Internet.

Shortly after the Middle Eastern malfeasance, FBI raided the Massachusetts home of a Connecticut camera shop employee and found pictures from Jolie's baby shower that had been swiped off a digital memory card belonging to the actress' brother. Federal authorities then opened an investigation into whether the Massachusetts man and his coworker were attempting to sell those snapshots to the highest bidder.

Then, in honor of the no-privacy agreement Jolie and Pitt must have signed when they got together, a paparazzo was nabbed in July at Maddox Jolie-Pitt's Malibu daycare center while allegedly trying to snap a quick pic of the youngster. Clint Brewer, 25, was taken into custody but the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office eventually determined there wasn't enough evidence to file a trespassing charge against him.