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EDITOR’S NOTE: This account of the allegations against Los Angeles hotelier Steve Farzam is based on official statements, court documents, investigation reports, interviews with law enforcement officials and people who encountered him over the years, his social media posts and other reporting from CNN. At an extravagant reception, hotelier Steve Farzam seemed to literally plunge into marriage, appearing to dive from a helicopter in a rainbow parachute onto the grounds of a luxury hotel north of Beverly Hills. The parachutist descended from an overcast sky at the lavish 2017 wedding reception, as seen in videos posted online. “Groom or 007?” Farzam wrote in a YouTube description. It was staged: A stuntman jumped from the helicopter and landed near the crowd amid a downpour of rose pedals. He was surrounded by a ground crew that included Farzam, who slipped out of a bodysuit and switched places with the stuntman. In a white tux, the groom emerged to rousing applause, according to videographer Moziko Wind. “It was like a magician,” said Wind, who produced the movie-like wedding video. “He claimed that he jumped. People with money, they really want to impress their guests.” Well-known in the civic circles of the affluent Westside of Los Angeles, Farzam is the son of a longtime hotel owner and former doctor who emigrated from Iran. He’s a state certified and licensed paramedic with an associate degree in emergency medical technology; a self-proclaimed do-gooder whose penchant for protecting and serving has occasionally run afoul of the law. Though often appearing stylish and refined, with an air of unshakable confidence, like a real-life James Bond, Farzam seemed to come undone in recent years. In January, he was seen in a restricted emergency zone around the Palisades Fire — fully decked out in firefighter turnout gear. By July, he was facing nearly two dozen felony charges, including impersonating a firefighter and assaulting a first responder. He was chief operating officer of an eco-friendly boutique hotel owned and operated by his family across from the storied Santa Monica pier. On his websites and social media posts, he has portrayed himself for years as a beneficent giver, a man of action: boasting about his paramedic experience, medical helicopter missions in Arizona and volunteer work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. On social media he praised emergency medical crews and US Border Patrol officers; posted a photo of President Donald Trump in a MAGA cap with the message, “God bless America and our brave patriots who keep us safe;” and urged people to support the tough-on-crime policies of Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, whose office is now trying to put him behind bars. Farzam’s posts shared a common theme: He lauded the courage of first responders, extolled those who serve and safeguard communities and promoted civic engagement and small acts of heroism. In a blue paramedic uniform, Farzam appeared on “The Tyra Banks Show,” which usually featured chats with Hollywood stars and presidential hopefuls. Farzam offered tips about home survival kits and accident safety, according to a YouTube video. He smiled during his introduction, seeming to revel in applause. “I have learned over the years that people work for money but they die for admiration and respect,” Farzam, in 2017, told VoyageLA, a digital publication that claims to highlight “LA’s most inspiring stories.” In the waning days of the pandemic, appreciation and recognition came from Los Angeles city and county officials, who, according to posts on Farzam’s Instagram, commended Farzam for operating Covid testing centers and hailed him as a leader and role model. ‘He put himself out in the community’ Despite the accolades and online swagger, the Seattle-born son of Jewish Iranian immigrants kept getting into trouble. In the months and years before his July 16 arrest, his behavior grew increasingly erratic, court documents show. He now stands accused of perpetrating a more than 25-year con that spiraled into a cinematic tale of intrigue, with potentially dire consequences: If convicted, Farzam faces up to 23 years and 10 months in prison. An FBI and Homeland Security agent, a firefighter, arson investigator and police officer, Farzam has been them all over the years – well, he’s appeared to wear each of those hats. In 2011, Beverly Hills police reported catching Farzam and a woman, dressed as security personnel, trying to sneak into the Golden Globe Awards. He told officers they had worked security the previous night and returned to “see all the movie stars,” according to an investigation report. He even created a fictitious fire company, according to prosecutors – an accusation his lawyer has pushed back on. Who is the real Steve Farzam? He’s no public servant but a great pretender, a serial law enforcement and first responder wannabe, according to court records, official statements and interviews with people who have encountered him over the years. His misconduct, from posing as an arson investigator during the worst wildfires in Los Angeles history to aiming lasers at the cockpits of commercial and law enforcement aircraft, repeatedly put lives at risk, according to prosecutors. “This is a continuous con to pretend to be a first responder for benefits,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Ayvazian, who is prosecuting the case, said at a preliminary hearing last month. “Whatever those benefits are, financial or whether those benefits are in Mr. Farzam’s head, that is not relevant.” “If Mr. Farzam was in his backyard playing with his fire trucks and his guns with his friends, we wouldn’t be here. The reason why we’re here is because he put himself out in the community, and he represented himself as a firefighter. He represented himself as a law enforcement officer,” the prosecutor said. Investigators have been unable to identify a motive in what Ayvazian called “a very strange case.” “If you look at the entire context of what we’ve presented in this case … it’s a very troubling pattern,” he said of Farzam’s behavior. He went to Palisades Fire zone ‘to help,’ attorney says CNN has sought comment from Farzam’s wife and two brothers. One of his attorneys, Alan Jackson, declined to comment on the record. Farzam, 47, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Jackson, at the preliminary hearing, argued prosecutors failed to produce evidence to support the charges, particularly “zero” proof the targeted aircraft “were flashed by a laser.” About Farzam’s presence at a restricted zone during the Palisades Fire, Jackson insisted his client was “there to help.” “Not one shred of evidence suggests that my client tried to benefit monetarily or benefit in any other way, at the detriment of the community or the government, to falsify his identity as a fireman. He was there to help. He’s not charged with any violent crime whatsoever,” Jackson said. In a motion in support of no bail filed one day before the enigmatic hotelier’s mid-July arrest, Ayvazian wrote Farzam “has a long and persistent history involving the impersonation of law enforcement and emergency personnel, fraudulent access to government systems, and unlawful firearm possession.” Farzam was 21 at the time of his earliest known criminal involvement, in 1999, when he was arrested for impersonating a police officer and committing perjury, according to prosecutors. The charges were dismissed under a plea agreement, court documents show. He pleaded guilty to providing false information on Department of Motor Vehicles documents and giving unlawful registration. “His conduct spans more than two decades, demonstrating a calculated disregard for the law and a sustained pattern of deception,” according to the motion for no bail in the current case. Farzam was held without bail until October 24, when a judge set bail at $3 million, according to the district attorney’s office. After his release, he was placed on house arrest at an in-patient mental health facility and ordered to wear an ankle monitor. He’s not permitted to possess firearms, explosive devices, pyrotechnics, lasers or flashlights. Farzam also was ordered not to contact witnesses in the case. His next court appearance is slated for November 20. “Where does he stop?” asked James Hirt, a retired special agent supervisor for the California Department of Justice, who investigated Farzam in a major 2014 case involving 60 felony counts. He pleaded guilty to three felonies in that case and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation. Eventually the convictions were reduced to misdemeanors and expunged. “I’m sure all we’ve ever done is scratch the surface of his nonsense. And that’s probably why he keeps doing it.” The Santa Muerte (Saint Death) Fire Department A thick blanket of smoke and ash rolled over the southern California horizon that mid-January day during the deadly Palisades Fire. The air was hazy and acrid. Farzam paid a visit to a restricted evacuation zone, wearing full firefighting gear over his 6-foot, 200-pound frame. In a white Ford Expedition with exempt plates and red emergency lights, Farzam stopped at a checkpoint manned by the National Guard on January 17 and presented a document showing the vehicle was registered to the fictitious Santa Muerte Fire Department, prosecutors said. That’s Spanish for Saint Death, a scythe-wielding skeleton folk saint popular in Latin America as a guardian of outcasts. He said he was an arson investigator, according to prosecutors. After showing his driver’s license, the soldiers allowed him in the restricted zone, according to the no bail motion, which didn’t indicate what he did or how long he was there. “God bless the first responders for their courage and service to all of us during this horrific tragedy,” Farzam wrote on X the next day, with video of crackling, wind-swept flames swallowing up a luxury home. “We will be forever grateful for your dedication and fierce fight all of you put up to save our homes.” On January 16, prosecutors said, Farzam drove to a checkpoint at the evacuation zone in a vehicle with state exempt plates. He allegedly told a Los Angeles Port Police officer he was with the LA Fire Department. He was allowed to remain in the restricted zone. On March 25, prosecutors said, Farzam was seen on LAPD surveillance footage driving to a National Guard checkpoint at Sunset Boulevard and Amalfi Drive. He identified himself as a security guard. He presented a guard card and gun permit to gain access to the restricted zone. Fictitious fire company ‘central’ to scheme, prosecutors say Santa Muerte is a Mexican folk religion that mixes traditional aspects of Catholicism and ancient Aztec beliefs. The patron saint of death is venerated as a spiritual benefactor of a growing number of marginalized Mexicans and Central Americans who claim they feel unprotected by the state and cast aside by the Catholic Church. While lighting candles of various colors is part of its veneration, Saint Death has nothing to do with fires or extinguishing them. Farzam’s nonexistent fire department is listed online and in state records as being on North Imperial Avenue in El Centro, a sweltering desert community about 120 miles east of San Diego. Its motto is, “Serving with Courage, Integrity and Professionalism,” according to a website, which includes a volunteer form. The address is actually a UPS Store in a strip mall that also houses a hair salon and spa and a Mexican seafood restaurant. The creation of the fake agency is “central” to Farzam’s scheme, according to prosecutors, who said he “assumed false authority as a high-ranking fire official.” The fabricated role, they say, was exploited to “obtain government-issued exempt license plates, gain unlawful access to restricted emergency zones” and acquire new firearms reserved for peace officers. The scheme has put Farzam “at the center of a far-reaching, multi-agency criminal investigation involving a sustained pattern of fraud, impersonation of public officials, unlawful acquisition of firearms, and repeated endangerment of public safety,” according to the no bail motion. The 164-room glass-and-steel, beachfront Shore Hotel – which the Farzam family opened in 2011 – served, according to prosecutors, as “base of operations for several fraudulent activities, including IP addresses linked to false submissions and vehicle registration.” Farzam’s brother Jon, CEO of Shore Hotel, and the hotel’s public relations firm have not responded to CNN’s requests for comment. The fictitious fire department has the same initials as the legitimate Santa Monica Fire Department – near where the Shore Hotel is located, prosecutors said. The volunteer fire department was registered as a nonprofit in California in July 2022, according to state records, which show a representative of the Shore Hotel, with its Santa Monica address, as its registered agent. Farzam’s attorney Jackson argued the Santa Muerte Fire Department is a nonprofit legitimately registered with the state and said prosecutors have not established “it was a false firefighter department, and it was just literally made up.” Ayvazian, the prosecutor, told the court: “We would have to assume that Mr. Farzam is a very low IQ person who is incredibly gullible to believe that he did not know” this is not a “legitimate fire department.” On September 15, 2022, Farzam went to the Santa Monica office of the California Department of Motor Vehicles and submitted forms to turn over ownership of a Hummer to the fictitious fire agency, according to court documents. He identified himself as “Dep. Chief.” In all, at least 10 vehicles were “fraudulently registered” under the Santa Muerte name, court records said. Israel Gonzalez, a special agent for the California Department of Justice, testified at the preliminary hearing that the name of the fire department on DMV documents drew his attention. “Are you a native Spanish speaker?” asked the prosecutor. “I am.” “What does ‘Santa Muerte’ mean?” “The literal definition is Saint of Death.” The so-called Saint of Death fire company helped Farzam secure guns, prosectors said. The no bail motion said from February 2023 to January 2024, Farzam posed as a law enforcement officer to unlawfully obtain nine firearms from a licensed dealer. He falsely claimed to be a peace officer with the Santa Muerte Fire Department, arriving at a store in uniform with patches from the fake agency – and a holstered handgun, according to testimony by a Bureau of Firearms special agent. He drove exempt vehicles and presented forged peace officer IDs and a false peace officer standards and training certificate. The falsified credentials “allowed him to bypass the mandatory Firearm Safety Certificate (FSC) and to purchase handguns not listed on California’s Roster of Certified Handguns.” In one haul, prosecutors said, he drove away with a .22 caliber handgun, a 9mm handgun, a couple of rifles and a 12-gauge shotgun. Gun store employees recalled Farzam on two occasions pulling out of the parking lot – red and white lights flashing, sirens blaring – as if responding to an emergency call, court documents show. “He’s a 47-year-old man. He’s not a child, and he’s clearly able to fill out forms,” Ayvazian said of the defendant at the preliminary hearing. “He’s not an ignorant fool. He is someone who is doing this as a pattern of conduct, and he is manipulating the different bureaucracies in the state of California to his benefit.” “Santa Muerte does not exist. It is not an unincorporated city. It’s not an incorporated city.” ‘A really frightening night’ And there were the bizarre incidents that prosecutors described as “the most dangerous aspect” of his current criminal case. Farzam is accused of “a series of blue laser strikes directed at commercial, recreational and law enforcement aircraft” near his Brentwood home earlier this year, according to court documents. The FBI has warned laser strikes can potentially disorient or temporarily blind pilots and contribute to a crash. No aircraft has ever been reported to have crashed because of a laser strike. Still, Farzam’s alleged strikes account for the more serious charges against him: multiple felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and assault upon a peace office or firefighter. On the night of February 21, several aircraft – including a news helicopter, a California Highway Patrol helicopter and three commercial airliners descending into Los Angeles International Airport – reported “being struck by a high-intensity blue laser beam,” according to court documents. “It was a really frightening night, because that light was so powerful and so bright, it really could’ve gotten us hurt,” CNN affiliate KABC reporter Chris Christi told the station after Farzam’s arrest. The helicopter was piloted by Morrie Zager. A camera operator also was on board. Christi told the station a “particularly bright blue light” filled the cockpit. It reflected off the windshield and “lit up the entire cockpit.” “The laser directly struck Zager and (Christi) in the eyes, causing intense pain and temporary blindness, forcing evasive maneuvers,” according to the motion in support of no bail. The helicopter followed and recorded a black SUV. Detectives later identified Farzam as the man seen on news footage stepping out of the vehicle during the attack. At the preliminary hearing, Zager compared the laser strike in his eye to “a whack in the back of the head with a baseball bat.” That same night, three commercial airline pilots reported being targeted with blue laser light on the approach to LAX – which led to additional criminal charges against Farzam. On April 19, prosecutors said, Farzam allegedly pointed a blue laser at an LAPD helicopter. Jackson, Farzam’s high-profile veteran criminal defense attorney, noted a defense expert’s testimony that an analysis of video and photos of one strike showed “the diffusion of that light source is inconsistent with the laser.” “Everything rises and falls on whether or not it was a laser, and they simply failed to produce that information,” Jackson said of the prosecution witnesses. “If Mr. Farzam was the person who was shooting the item,” Jackson added, “it wasn’t a laser.” A flashlight with blue light was found in Farzam’s possession, Jackson said. “They have to have something that says there was a laser and they don’t.” The attorney acknowledged investigators found laser pointers in Farzam’s home, but none were blue. Still harder to prove, Jackson said, are the counts of assault on a peace officer stemming from the laser strikes, arguing that Farzam would not or could not have known what kind of aircraft was flying at the time. “At night, against a black sky, in pitch black darkness, you cannot tell the difference between a law enforcement aircraft and a civilian aircraft,” he said. “They have the exact same silhouette.” “This has been overcharged as assault with a deadly weapon,” Jackson said of the complaint, adding there is “no way” a laser pointer “could be considered a dangerous or deadly weapon.” A ‘disturbing encounter’ and a 9mm Last September, Farzam was at the center of what prosecutors called “a disturbing encounter” at a home in Beverly Hills. A charge of impersonating a police investigator stems from the incident on September 21, 2024. In a black Ford Explorer registered with the Santa Muerte Fire Department, Farzam pulled up to a driveway and blocked the sidewalk, according to court documents. He wore a tactical jacket emblazoned with the word “INVESTIGATOR.” At the front door, carrying a holstered firearm, he “aggressively demanded” to speak with the homeowner without identifying what agency he represented, according to the no bail motion. He later told police he was “acting as a private investigator looking into a fight involving the homeowner’s son,” according to court documents. Surveillance video showed “Farzam threatening to arrest the boy without identifying himself or citing any legal basis for doing so.” Farzam, still wearing the tactical jacket and carrying a 9mm handgun, was later pulled over by police in Beverly Hills. The weapon was registered to an acquaintance, who told police he had left the firearm in the vehicle when he borrowed it from Farzam, according to court documents. The acquaintance expressed anger that Farzam had used the weapon. The Ford Explorer was “fraudulently registered” to the fictitious Santa Muerte Fire Department by someone named “Chief Ed Jackson,” the court documents said. Farzam told police he was conducting a transaction involving the legal transfer of a firearm at the time, according to the no bail document. During the preliminary court hearing, Farzam’s attorney acknowledged a witness in a video noted Farzam “said something about an arrest” during the incident, but “there was no allegation whatsoever that my client was engaged in any kind of self-benefit or violence.” Ex-cop says Farzam ‘backed me up’ at vehicle stop Farzam is the son of a doctor-turned-hotelier who emigrated from Iran with his wife and their three children, according to an obituary of the eldest Farzam, who died last year. The couple later had two other children. The family settled for a time in Seattle, where the couple purchased their first motel. They later moved to Los Angeles, where the Farzams owned and operated three motels in the 1980s and 1990s – including two that once stood on the site of the Shore Hotel. Farzam has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Northridge, and a certificate and associate degree in emergency medical technology/paramedic from Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California. Farzam later taught at the college. To meet teaching credentials at Southwestern, he submitted an American Heart Association Healthcare Provider card that was “invalid and dishonestly obtained,” the California Emergency Medical Services Authority said in a 2009 letter denying his application for licensing. A college spokesperson confirmed Farzam was an adjunct professor for about a year, beginning in August 2007, but declined to discuss personnel matters. In the late 1990s, Farzam was a police cadet at the Santa Barbara Police Department. Retired Santa Barbara Officer Charles McChesney, who was on the job when Farzam was training, still remembers him. One summer night in 1999, McChesney was conducting a traffic stop when a Crown Victoria – the sedan that dominated police fleets for decades – with exempt plates made a sudden U-turn and pulled up behind his patrol car. Farzam was at the wheel. “He backed me up on a traffic stop. I asked him what he was doing and he gave me a story and handed me a business card saying he had a contract with a state agency to provide some kind of security services,” McChesney told CNN. “I thought, ‘That’s kind of weird,’ but I let that go.” Later, McChesney said, he responded to a report of a public disturbance at a downtown apartment complex and found Farzam “in the middle of it.” He said Farzam showed up at the scene and “just made it worse.” At the time Farzam was no longer a cadet or associated with the local police department. The officer ended up seizing the exempt plates on Farzam’s car, McChesney said. He recalled Farzam was “mad” that McChesney had “started looking into him.” “He was kind of borderline stalking me, and he had sent me one or two mysterious, threatening emails. Some kind of watch-your-back type of thing. And that’s when detectives got involved,” he said. “He does this stupid stuff that seems harmless, right. But then it also got a little bit of a menacing overtone.” In July 1999, Santa Barbara police learned Farzam’s car was registered to “State of California Metro Police Enforcement” and he was identified as an officer, according to the state Emergency Medical Services Authority. The discovery was one of multiple reasons the authorities gave for denying Farzam’s paramedic license in 2008. His vehicle had exempt plates, flashing lights, a radio scanner, spotlights, and other police equipment. The denial letter said Farzam was convicted of making a false statement to the DMV and a registration violation. Lee Carter, a retired deputy district attorney in Santa Barbara, said details of the case he prosecuted are fuzzy after so many years but recalled Farzam was arrested in 1999 on charges of impersonating a police officer and other charges. “I remember he showed up at a couple of calls all decked out, and there was some circumstantial evidence he drove around in a car outfitted with police lights,” Carter told CNN. “It worries me that the accusations continue after this length of time. We were the first and he was young. We thought, ‘He’s just a young kid making bad mistakes.’ Now, three decades later, you say, maybe there’s something else going on.” In 2002, court records show, the LAPD arrested Farzam for “impersonating a firefighter and falsely reporting an emergency.” In a case involving 19 criminal counts, Farzam was convicted of five misdemeanors in 2003. He was sentenced to 182 days in jail and placed on probation, according to prosecutors. He reportedly identified himself as an off-duty officer and county paramedic. An LAPD investigation “revealed a pattern of behavior consistent with a continual desire to identify yourself as either a police officer, firefighter or any other officious position related to such professions,” the California Emergency Medical Service Authority said in a letter to Farzam. He was again arrested by the LAPD in 2004 for falsely reporting an emergency. Farzam pleaded guilty to two of six counts and got probation, according to court records. ‘Most significant prior case’ involved 60 criminal counts Then, in 2014, Farzam became embroiled in what prosecutors called the “most significant prior case” against him: a 60-count complaint filed by then California Attorney General Kamala Harris. The case was part of a state Department of Justice investigation. Prosecutors accused Farzam of using an alias to fraudulently access the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, a vast computer network that connects state public safety agencies to databases for criminal histories, vehicle and driver records and other sensitive information. Farzam “falsely impersonated an FBI Special Agent during a phone call to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office to influence a driving under the influence prosecution,” according to the no bail motion. “Representing himself as the real special agent, Farzam falsely claimed the defendant was a key member of a covert federal task force. He spoke directly to a supervising deputy city attorney, who requested official FBI confirmation.” The source of the information was an informant, a former friend and associate of Farzam who turned on him, according to state DOJ investigation reports obtained by CNN. On May 7, 2014, the informant made an undercover purchase of an assault rifle from Farzam at the hotelier’s Brentwood home, the investigation reports show. He recorded the encounter. Farzam allegedly test-fired the rifle into the lawn in his backyard, which overlooks a public school. On the same day, according to the investigation reports, Farzam called the supervising prosecutor, claiming to be an FBI agent in Los Angeles. He identified himself as “Special Agent in Charge Rafael Garcia” and said he wanted to “get a driving under the influence arrest dismissed for a Santa Monica police officer because she was an informant in the ‘Chapo Guzman case,’” the documents said, referring to now imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo.” If she wanted to know more, Farzam suggested, the prosecutor should “Google Chapo Guzman.” The prosecutor told a state DOJ investigator the caller was “very personable and talked as if he knew what he was doing,” according to an investigation report. In June 2014, law enforcement officials seized 16 firearms – including assault-style rifles – a dozen emergency radios, more than 40 forged badges, two counterfeit permits to carry concealed weapons, TSA and airline “Flying While Armed” documents and a CHP Crown Victoria with emergency lights from Farzam’s home and business, according to the no bail motion. A 1986 Pierce fire truck was also found on the property, according to an investigation report at the time. The fire truck, registered under the Santa Muerte Fire Department, was seized as evidence after Farzam’s arrest last July, prosecutors said. Hirt, the retired state DOJ agent, said one item in Farzam’s home was particularly humorous. A framed certificate mounted on a wall, reportedly from the Transportation Safety Administration, commended Farzam for thwarting an airline hijacking, Hirt recalled with a laugh. “I think we would know if that occurred, right,” Hirt said. “We Googled him, never found anything. He just made it up. In his own mind, he was somebody special. And he certainly believed he was not subject to the laws that everybody else was subject to.” Farzam eventually pleaded guilty to three felony counts: impersonating a peace officer, possession of an assault weapon and unauthorized computer access, according to the no bail motion. His sentence: 90 days in jail and five years’ probation. The convictions were ultimately reduced to misdemeanors and expunged in 2022, the court document said. “He was able to convince the judge that he was not an innocent man but a reformed guy, and that he was going to stop,” Hirt said. “He’s got money. The parents were always there to bail him out. Literally, I was walking into the police department in Santa Monica after serving the search warrant at his hotel and he’s walking out with his family. That’s how quick they managed to bail him out.” ‘If he only became a screenwriter’ In 2019, Farzam was in trouble again. A felony complaint by the state attorney general charged him with attempted witness intimidation, identity theft and use of counterfeit court seal, according to the no bail document. The case centered on his alleged attempt to intimidate a former employee who filed a lawsuit against Farzam. He also was accused of creating and submitting a forged order with a counterfeit Los Angeles Superior Court seal in a bid to “compel the removal of unflattering online content,” prosecutors said. A UCLA law professor discovered the forgery and alerted authorities. “The guy lives in LA. If he only became a screenwriter, he could harness all that,” said Eugene Volokh, the University of California, Los Angeles law professor emeritus who alerted authorities. Mental health diversion was granted in the case, which, according to prosecutors, was dismissed in 2022. It’s not clear what the mental health issue was or what treatment, if any, Farzam received. Mental health diversion connects people with mental health issues to treatment programs and support services in lieu of jail time. When Farzam was arrested this year on July 16, former state DOJ special agent supervisor Hirt got a call from a colleague who was part of the 2014 investigation. “You’ll never guess who got arrested?” asked the caller. Hirt knew. “Nothing’s going to stop him,” he said, referring to Farzam. “I’m surprised it took this long to arrest him again. He can’t resist. He can’t break the habit.”
