Sandy MaloneRockmart, GA – Police in Georgia arrested a woman on Thursday who pretended to be a federal agent in an attempt to get free food at a Chik-fil-A restaurant.
Rockmart Police Chief Randy Turner said that it wasn’t the first time that 47-year-old Kimberly George Ragsdale impersonated a law enforcement officer at the Chik-fil-A located in Rockmart, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
Chief Turner said employees told police that Ragsdale had pulled the same stunt several times the prior week.
The chief said Ragsdale even went so far as to threaten to arrest some of the Chik-fil-A staff if they didn’t comply with her orders to give her free food, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
So when she showed up at the fast food restaurant again on Nov. 5 and claimed to be an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and again demanded free food, employees called 911 and reported her.
The police report said that when Rockmart police officers responded to the scene, Ragsdale identified herself to them as a federal agent, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
Officers asked to see her law enforcement credentials but Ragsdale didn’t have any, according to the police report.
She told the officers that her credentials were electronic only, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
That’s when the officers told Ragsdale that she was under arrest and took her out of her vehicle to take her into custody.
But Ragsdale didn’t give up the charade even after she was arrested, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
As the officers were putting the handcuffs on her, she started talking into her shirt like there was a radio there.
Ragsdale told her shirt that she was being arrested and that they needed to send somebody to the Rockmart Police Department for her, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
Officers booked her into the Polk County Jail.
Ragsdale was later released on bond, according to the Polk Standard Journal.
“We are thankful for the observant and professional staff at CFA who knew what to do and gathered the info needed for us to make our case and catch her in the act,” Chief Turner said. “We would like to inform our citizens to call 911 if someone is claiming to be an officer if they aren’t in a marked car, or in a proper uniform, or if they don’t have the proper credentials.”
The police chief also explained that a real police officer would never demand free food at a restaurant, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
“If it is given, we appreciate it. If it is discounted, we appreciate it. We will not ask for it or make threats and demand it,” he assured the public.
Chief Turner asked to be contacted by any other businesses that had encountered Ragsdale impersonating a federal agent and demanding free food, the Polk Standard Journal reported.
Holly Matkin
