FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT PLEADS GUILTY TO IMPERSONATION OF A FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERE
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Vance Luce, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Miami Field Office, announced that defendant Sandra Elder, a/k/a “Sandra Sierra,” a/k/a “Sandra Muzeros,” pled guilty today to one count of impersonating a Special Agent of the United States Secret Service, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 912.
Sentencing is scheduled for February 10, 2012 before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach. At sentencing, Elder faces a maximum statutory term of up to three years’ imprisonment.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Elder served as an adjunct professor at a local university in Broward County. Elder fraudulently told students, faculty and high-level administrators at the university that she was an active Special Agent of the United States Secret Service who was close to retiring after many years of service as a federal agent. Elder also submitted fraudulent documentation to the university reflecting that she was serving as a current Supervisory Special Agent of the United States Secret Service. In fact, however, Elder has not been a United States Secret Service agent for approximately ten years, since 2001.
Mr. Ferrer thanked the U.S. Secret Service for their work on this case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Katz.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
