BALTIMORE, MD—A judge has sentenced a Baltimore County man to over four years in prison in connection with an identity theft scheme.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Igor Cooper Rosensteel, 30, of Middle River, to 50 months in federal prison for device fraud and aggravated identity theft, related to a scheme in which he held himself out as a federal law enforcement officer or federal employee in order to defraud a total of at least 15 victims.

Rosensteel previously admitted that he posed as a U.S. Secret Service Agent to gain the trust of his victims, then he exploited them, stealing bank checks and credit cards, among other things. The guilty plea was entered on September 1, 2020. Rosenteel also pled guilty to additional charges of identity theft that he committed while he was on pre-trial release status in June and July of 2020.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Bo Keane of the United States Secret Service – Baltimore Field Office; and Lieutenant Colonel Kevin M. Anderson, Chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

According to his guilty plea, on August 3, 2018, Rosensteel was driving in Baltimore when he was pulled over by Maryland Transportation Authority Police for driving with a suspended license. When the patrol officer requested Rosensteel’s license and registration, Rosensteel instead pulled a law enforcement badge from his pocket, placed it on his lap and told the officer that he was a Secret Service Agent. The officer detected the odor of alcohol emanating from the vehicle and believed that Rosensteel was attempting to use his law enforcement badge to get out of a traffic ticket.

Rosensteel was taken to the police station and continued to maintain that he was a law enforcement officer. Local police contacted the U.S. Secret Service in Washington, D.C. Investigation revealed that Rosensteel had never worked as an officer or employee of the U.S. government. After real Secret Service agents traveled to the police station in Baltimore, Rosensteel finally admitted that he had lied about being an agent and that the badge was fake.

As detailed in his plea agreement, additional investigation revealed that from approximately January 2018 through February 2019, Rosensteel falsely held himself out to be a federal law enforcement officer and he used this law enforcement status to defraud at least eight victims. Specifically, Rosensteel used his law enforcement status to get everything from free parking and food in restaurants, to gaining the trust of women he met online. Using his phony law enforcement persona to create a sense of security and trust, Rosensteel then exploited his victims by cashing out bank loans in the victims’ names, saddling the victims with the resulting debt and fees. After being invited into victims’ homes, Rosensteel admitted that he surreptitiously searched their belongings, stealing keys, bank checks, and credit cards, then used those items to go on lavish spending sprees, with resulting losses of more than $20,000.

According to his second plea agreement, Rosensteel was placed on pretrial release on January 30, 2020, related to his pending federal charges. While on pretrial release status, Rosensteel employed his previous strategy of deceptive online relationships and began a romantic relationship with person A under the false name of “Cooper Kent.” In this relationship, Rosensteel falsely claimed he was an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. After an argument with his third-party custodian on June 3, 2020, Rosensteel removed his ankle monitoring bracelet, and he absconded from Maryland.

On July 7, 2020, the United States Marshal’s Service apprehended Rosensteel in another state, and it was discovered that he possessed at least seven debit and credit cards in the names of at least six additional victims. Law enforcement also discovered that Rosensteel possessed the banking information of another victim, which had been handwritten in a note inside of his wallet.

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