Hi Everyone.
I'm the OP, the guy who took the pic.
Here's the story.
I first ran across this guy in 2011; I was in the car with my girlfriend, and saw this guy 100m or so up the street, it didn't take more than a glance to pick him out as a fraud... His uniform was pretty good, but even from 100m away an Air Force guy in FFO on Yonge St on a Monday afternoon. It just didn't add up even at first glance - I mean, the ONLY guys in TO that would be Air Force and tasked to a land unit would by definition be attached to a PRes Unit or at one of the HQs at Denison. And there's no way that any of those guys would be tooling around in FFO at that time and place. As we drove by him, I could tell his uniform and accoutrements were issued and looked real, but his FFO clearly wasn't. No big deal, lots and lots of folks have non issue kit, but this stuff was clearly Paintball type gear, not real field grade kit. So I bailed out of the car ahead of him, and walked back down the street to have a talk - I just walked up to him, playing the part of civilian fanboy, and asked if he was in the Army... He said yeah, so that was it, knew he was a fake. Then I asked him what Regiment he was in, that's when he said "the Peacekeeping Regiment." Oh lordy. So then I identified myself as a Capt in the CF, produced my ID card and told him he should do the same or I was calling the police. He said no, so I called 911. I tailed him for a good half hour; he was smart enough to beeline for the subway where I'd lose cell signal. The whole time he was very. very adamant that he was really an Air Force Capt, and that I was a crazy man harassing him. Well, far better people have thought far worse of me, so I really couldn't have cared what his opinion was. But he was almost - almost - adamant enough to make me second guess myself. But the tip off of course is that a real AF Capt wouldn't have tried to flee, but rather would have called the cops on ME and tried to have ME arrested. The fact that he didn't spoke volumes.
Now, at the time, I had no idea if what he was doing was a summary, indictable or hybrid CC offence, so I wasn't about to go all Walter Mitty myself and risk performing an unlawful arrest. I was also on the phone with 911, so saw no need to put myself at risk when the situation wasn't urgent and the police were on their way. Turns out, Personating a public officer, which includes Commissioned Officers in the CF, is indeed an indictable offence, so any citizen could arrest him on the spot. Regardless, didn't know that at the time.
Anyway, eventually the guy made his getaway in a cab; I'd been telling every cabbie who's car he got in that the guy was an imposter, that I was on the phone with 911, and if the cabbie left I'd have to give them his car number, and then the cops would be looking for him all day - and what cabbie needs that hassle? Well, 5 refused to take him, the 6th took him away before my GF could come RV with me in the car. Talking after the fact with a few police officers I knew, they all said that the odds of an officer being dispatched in time to get him were just about nil, there's simply too many far higher priority calls downtown for anyone to be able to respond in a timely manner. Too bad, but that's the reality in downtown TO. In any case, I reported it to both TPS and the ASU Toronto MP det at the time- but I had basically no info other than a description, and none of the photos I took in the Subway turned out at all. Neither the MPs nor TPS seemed terribly enthusiastic or interested in pursuing an investigation, I figured the matter was going to go nowhere, as it apparently did. So I got a phone with a much better camera, and started researching the law to figure out what I could or should do differently next time.
Which brings us to a maybe two months ago, again in the car with my GF, and who do I think I see down the street but the same guy. He was too far away to really tell, and we were on our way to a funeral IIRC, so no time for any more Mod Squad antics, plus I really wasn't sure it was him.
Which brings us to yesterday. I was on my way to work, and who do I see across the street at the same intersection... So I made a U turn and saw him duck into the Tim Hortons. I'm embarrassed to admit I briefly considered just waiting for him to come out, filling him in, telling him I'd better not see him dressed like that again, and taking off. I entertained that fantasy for about ten seconds, then of course reality kicked in and you know that's not the right answer. Both from a legal self preservation point of view, and a morality point of view. So I thought, I could call the cops again, but knowing how that turned out last go round, the last thing I wanted was him getting away a third time. Sunshine is the best disinfectant as they say, so I just walked up to him, told him to smile while I took a few happy snaps, and wished him a good day - oh, and told him to keep an eye out for his pics on the net... I figured if the police couldn't get to him in time, and I had nowhere near enough info for them to start tracking him down, splashing his pic all over FB would at least unmask him as a fraud. The next step was going to be to poster the neighbourhood, figuring the one sure way to stop a guy who's an impostor is to simply unmask him. Never in my wildest dreams did I figure he'd ever be identified. And there I though I was good at internets; the true power of social media and networking has surprised the hell out of me frankly.
Turns out events have made postering the guy's hood unnecessary. Within 12 hours of my posting the pics, someone managed to identify him by name. His FB profile link got splashed all over a few threads. A soldier from my ex - unit contacted me, turns out his friend is a manager at the Timmies (?!?) and had the guys business card (!!!), if anyone out there would believe a story that farfetched. A Toronto Police officer who's an also an Afghan vet contacted me, and he's got the ability to devote his shifts over the next few days to tracking this gent down. We just met up for a coffee at the very same Timmies, talked Afghanistan shop, and he was able to find out a bunch more info on him. So let's just say it's a foregone conclusion the gent will be nabbed by the police shortly. Truthfully, that's actually not the outcome I'd pick if it were up to me, I'd rather save the tax dollars and valuable court time and just unmask him in the court of public opinion. I mean, I think in the greater scheme of things, open scorn and public ridicule are the appropriate response to what this scam artist is doing, really. If he were trying to commit some other offence along with it, like gaining access to a defence establishment, etc etc, then I'd be much more concerned, but that's obviously a question for the Police to figure out. At the end of the day, his crime is in profiting from the hard work and sacrifices of those who earned a real Queen's Commission and the right to wear that uniform. Even the Air Force types, god bless their prop washed little heads.
So although not the result I had intended, this turned out well in the end; I could never have imagined the guy would be identified, much less the manner in which it happened. And for those worrying about all the talk of doing this contemptible fellow harm, understand that, for good or bad, this is how Army guys talk. This discussion here is a virtual mess, and if you think talk here is coarse, well, come to an actual mess sometime and I promise shock will cause your monocle to plop straight into your soup. So, as much as a punch to the mouth may be deserved... I can't really imagine any of the Officers, NCOs or troops I know actually doing it; they'd all do what they always do which is take quiet, effective action. Ok maybe not so quiet, but certainly not gratuitously violent either.
