Gwinnett Police Nab Homeland Security Impersonator James Willie Thomas

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A man told police that a Homeland Security impersonator threatened to deport him and his family if he did not hand over cash.

Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh got a tip about the incident and pulled the police reports, warrants and tracked down the victim, 37-year-old Jorge Guzman of Norcross.

Kavanaugh interviewed Guzman in Spanish. Guzman said he was filling up his work truck, which has his company's phone number on the side, at the QuikTrip gas station on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross on Thursday moing.

He said 15 minutes after he left the gas station, he got a call. He assumed it was somebody who wanted carpeting. His business is Guzman Flooring.

But, he said, the caller had something else in mind.

Gomez said the caller identified himself as a member of the Office of Homeland Security. Guzman hung up, thinking it was some kind of joke.

But the calls kept coming.

Guzman said the man told him that he saw his work truck on Jimmy Carter Boulevard. He told him that he knew his workers were in the country illegally and that he and his fellow officers would pull him over if he didn't retu to the gas station.

And, he said, it soon became clear what the man was really after.

"How much cash you carry? Guzman said the caller asked.

Guzman said the caller wanted money and then threatened his family. That's when Guzman called police.

Guzman said he made the call because he knew the caller wasn't an official, just someone who wanted to hurt people.

Police said the caller, James Willie Thomas, 45, of Stone Mountain, has no affiliation with Homeland Security.

Guzman said he and Gwinnett County officers hatched a plan to catch the caller in the act.

He agreed to leave $200 in a folded up piece of paper behind the AutoZone next to the gas station.

According to the police report, when Thomas reached for the money, officers surrounded him.

In cases like this, Guzman said he will call police and place his trust in them.

Thomas is in the Gwinnett County Jail and charged with theft by extortion and impersonating a police officer.

Police also charged him with drug possession.