Police seize fire truck in posh LA neighborhood in case with bizarre twist

(KTLA) — Police and federal agents raided a California home Wednesday afternoon and seized, among other evidence, a fire truck that may be tied to a Chino Hills man who was arrested nearly two years ago for impersonating a law enforcement officer and creating a fictional fire department.  

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Division confirmed to Nexstar’s KTLA that they, along with assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, executed a search warrant at a home in Brentwood.  

Officials would only say that a person at the residence was arrested on charges related to firearms violations, government fraud and impersonating a first responder.  

One of the items taken from the home and impounded at a tow yard in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington was a fire truck registered to the Santa Muerte Fire Department.  

The Santa Muerte Fire Department and law enforcement arson investigative unit, which does not exist despite a website claiming it does, came up in a July 2023 investigation in San Bernardino County.  

During that incident, a Chino Hills man identified as then-42-year-old Andrew De Boer, was caught on surveillance cameras dressed in a fake uniform, armed with a gun, baton, pepper spray and a Santa Muerte badge, illegally conducting a traffic stop.  

De Boer’s vehicle, a white Ford F-350 truck, was equipped with California-exempt license plates, fire department decals and emergency lights.  

De Boer was arrested and booked on charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer and false imprisonment. 

Investigators with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at his Chino Hills residence and found additional evidence, including body armor, firearms, an identification card, badges and uniforms with patches for the Santa Muerte Fire Department.  

So far, the LAPD is being tight-lipped about Wednesday’s raid in Brentwood.  

The identity of the person taken into custody has not been released, nor have police said what other evidence was seized during the operation and whether there are any ties to De Boer’s 2023 arrest.