A North Carolina man posing as a U.S. Army lieutenant general has been indicted by a federal grand jury after he went to a classified briefing and asserted authority to land a helicopter at a software company’s headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, according to a news release.
Christian Gerald Desgroux, 57, pretended to be a lieutenant general and “engaged in transporting a person for a classified briefing and under such guise having asserted authority to land a helicopter at Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS) headquarters, located in Cary, North Carolina,” according to the release.
The helicopter landing took place Nov. 6, 2017.
Desgroux could face up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release if imprisoned.
“At the time of the incident, SAS Security contacted local authorities, who handled the situation,” SAS Spokeswoman Shannon Heath told WRAL. “This was an isolated incident.”
Desgroux has pending charges, including an alleged assault on a female from April 2017; misuse of the 911 system and violating a domestic violence protection order from May 2017; felony conversion in November 2017; and interfering with emergency communications, felony fleeing to elude arrest, misuse of the 911 system and misdemeanor stalking from December 2017, according to state criminal records obtained by The News & Observer.
