Police gear 'collector' busted in Carol Stream

A security guard who “always wanted to be a police officer” will get some firsthand experience with the criminal justice system after authorities uncovered a cache of police badges, radios and an official Chicago police uniform in his Carol Stream apartment, police said Wednesday.

Calling himself a “collector,” Miguel A. Diaz, 45, was arrested after Carol Stream police searched his home on the 600 block of Hearth Lane last month, Cmdr. Ken George said. A grand jury indicted Diaz on Tuesday, charging him with false impersonation of a peace officer and unlawful use of identification cards.

“We found approximately 50 police badges from Chicago, the FBI, Central Intelligence Agency, state police, Cook County — many, many jurisdictions,” George said. “He indicated that he was a collector. He said he always wanted to be a police officer.”

George said Diaz, a security guard for a Carol Stream firm, was arrested July 14 after the Department of Homeland Security intercepted a Chicago police badge as it went through customs at O'Hare International Airport.

Later that day, George said, police seized a “full Chicago police officer uniform,” dozens of badges and three radios — one of which was monitoring Carol Stream police — from Diaz's apartment.

George said Diaz told police he bought the badges through a website, which apparently required him to have them delivered to other states and then shipped into Illinois. He said Diaz purchased other law enforcement materials at Kale Uniforms stores in Wheaton and Chicago, apparently after identifying himself as a police officer.

“It was really ridiculous. We had the FBI come in, the DEA, and all these people that were looking at whatever badges he had from their jurisdictions,” George said, adding that Diaz later lost his job as a security guard. “I don't know there will be any federal charges on this. That's up to them (federal authorities).”

Diaz, who is free on bond, could not be reached for comment. He is scheduled to appear in front of DuPage County Judge George Bakalis on Monday, Aug. 8, in Wheaton.