Disgraced Double Bay property developer bailed over allegedly impersonating AFP officer

3 hours ago 3

A disgraced Sydney property developer has been granted bail after police allegedly found a cache of counterfeit badges, replica firearms, valium, and large amounts of steroids and cocaine inside a Double Bay apartment.

Police began investigating Jaime Charles Farrelly on Thursday, after a member of the public handed in an AFP badge and identification that led police to the 50-year-old. Farrelly has since been charged with one count of impersonating a federal public official, possession of prohibited firearms, and supplying a prohibited drug.

Appearing at Parramatta local court via video link from Surry Hills police station, Farrelly, wearing a dark grey V-neck jumper, sat impassively as his charges were read.

He faces the possibility of 14 years’ imprisonment for possessing a prohibited weapon and two years’ imprisonment for impersonating an officer.

The prosecution did not oppose bail, and bail was granted on the condition that Farrelly surrender his passport, report to police daily, and not enter international points of departure.

His arrest followed a search warrant at a Double Bay address on Friday, in which allegedly fraudulent badges were found mimicking those carried by NSW, Victorian and federal police officers, and cards for multiple US law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hats and T-shirts bearing the AFP insignia were also found at the property, while four replica firearms, 11 high-quality gel blasters and 14 grams of cocaine were also seized.

A LED flashlight mimicking those placed on police vehicles and at least three model grenades were also found.

Several fraudulent police badges and identification cards were seized at the Double Bay address.

Farrelly was refused bail by NSW police to appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

He was handed a two-year ban from managing corporations last year for his role in the failure of four property development companies in Canberra, after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission found the companies owed more than $9 million to unsecured creditors.

The ban ended on Thursday.

Four replica firearms and 11 gel blasters were found at the address.

AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty said the alleged impersonation of a police officer was “extremely concerning”, saying that false representations supported by fraudulent badges and identification cards “poses a genuine danger to public safety”.