Secret Service impersonator

A man pretending to be a Secret Service agent slipped past security on Saturday at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington and was not stopped until he got to the sixth-floor suite of offices for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

A man pretending to be a Secret Service agent slipped past security on Saturday at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington and was not stopped until he got to the sixth-floor suite of offices for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

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Frederick J. Nickerson, 46, apparently left the building after being confronted by employees. He was arrested on Tuesday on charges of impersonating a Secret Service agent and was being held pending a detention hearing next week in Washington’s federal court.

Officials with the Federal Protective Service wrote in court papers that Nickerson flashed what appeared to be a Secret Service badge to security guards and said he was employed by the agency and needed to see Sebelius.

Nickerson also motioned to the side of his body as if to suggest he was carrying a gun on his waistband. He is not an employee of HHS or Secret Service.

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