Fake Badge Leads to Charges Against Salesman

A fire extinguisher salesman accused of flashing a phony fire marshal’s badge to drum up business may have had his career cut short at a Thousand Oaks hair salon.

A district attorney’s investigator was getting a haircut in the salon and noticed that the badge, marked “California State Fire Marshal,” had a typewritten name stapled to it.

The investigator promptly seized the plastic-coated card.

Bruce Spencer, 52, of Agoura Hills was charged Tuesday with six misdemeanor counts of impersonating a fire marshal, three stemming from the incident at the hair salon, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Schwartz said.

Spencer has not been arrested, but is scheduled to surrender himself at his arraignment on Dec. 30, Schwartz said.

If convicted, Spencer could face up to a $1,000 fine on each count and six months in jail for each violation.

Neither Spencer nor his lawyer were available for comment.

Prosecutors allege that Spencer used the fake badge to drum up business for Stars and Stripes Fire Protection of Simi Valley, a charge that one company official denied.

“These companies go to great lengths to get business,” said Schwartz, a prosecutor in the consumer and environmental protection division.

On Oct. 31, the day after his credentials were confiscated at the hair salon, Spencer was at a dry-cleaning store in Thousand Oaks. This time, Schwartz said, Spencer told the owner that he was a fire inspector for the city of Thousand Oaks.

Spencer also showed fake credentials on at least seven other occasions to owners of a Thousand Oaks restaurant, a tailor shop, a drapery and upholstery store, a computer store and another hair salon, Schwartz said.

At each of the businesses, investigators were told that Spencer had misrepresented himself as a fire official to inspect the firms’ fire extinguishers.

“In some cases, he told them they needed some sort of services,” Schwartz said.

Joe Narbonne, the owner of Stars and Stripes, confirmed that Spencer worked as a salesman for his company promoting fire-extinguishing equipment and services. He declined to elaborate.

Narbonne would not comment on his company’s sales practices, but said he does not encourage his workers to misrepresent themselves to sell equipment and servicing contracts.

“If somebody called up to complain, he wouldn’t be here three minutes,” Narbonne said. “I know he wasn’t doing that. This is something someone has trumped up.”

He offered no explanation for the confiscated badge.

Schwartz said the district attorney’s office is investigating complaints that other companies in the county have used deceptive practices to peddle fire extinguishers. No charges have been filed in those cases, he said.

County Fire Marshal Jim Smith said a person posing as a fire official could cause a hazard.

“It could be dangerous because, if you go to use an extinguisher in your time of need, it may not operate,” Smith said.

“The message to all people is, if in doubt, verify by asking for identification and call the agency these people represent.”