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August 13, 2004
Palos Hills Man Arrested for
Impersonating an FBI Agent
Thomas J. Kneir, Special Agent in Charge of
the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced
today the arrest of MARK W. RIZZO, age 51, of 9510 South 88th Avenue in
Palos Hills, Illinois. RIZZO was arrested this morning, without incident, by
FBI Special Agents at the Westin Hotel in Chicago, where RIZZO was teaching
a seminar on gang crime investigations.
RIZZO will be charged in a criminal complaint filed later today in U.S.
District Court in Chicago with one count of Impersonating an FBI employee,
which is a felony offense. According to the complaint, RIZZO is alleged to
have represented himself to attendees at this seminar, both orally and
through "on-line" postings, that he was an instructor at the FBI's Training
Academy in Quantico, Virginia and was a member of the FBI's National
Academy. Both of these assertions are untrue, as RIZZO has never been
employed by the FBI nor has he ever attended the FBI's National Academy.
In announcing this arrest, Mr. Kneir said, "In this era of heightened
security, we will not tolerate individuals who falsely claim to be FBI
employees. The public must have total and complete confidence that
individuals representing themselves as FBI employees are in fact who they
claim. The conduct alleged to have been committed by Mr. Rizzo is even more
egregious when you consider his motivation was strictly for personal gain."
RIZZO is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow at
4:15 PM this afternoon, at which time he will be formally charged. If
convicted of the charge against him, RIZZO faces a possible sentence of up
to three (3) years incarceration.
The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that
all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty
in a court of law.
EDITOR's NOTE: A copy of the complaint filed against RIZZO will be
available from the Chicago FBI Press Office at (312) 786-2645.
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