Man who posed as firefighter gets prison term in New York

But he'll return first to Waukesha to face charge he took car

By LISA SINK of the Journal Sentinel staff

Tuesday, March 5, 2002

The smooth-talking con artist who posed as a firefighter after Sept. 11 to scam money and ritzy hotel rooms was sentenced Monday to one to three years in prison -- but he'll be returning first to Waukesha to face a charge there.

Jerome Brandl, 34, said nothing in the court of Queens County (N.Y.) Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt as she imposed a prison term that firefighters said was too lenient.

"It's not right," said Lt. Frank Keane at the Manhattan fire station where Brandl stayed for a few chaotic days on the false pretense he was a volunteer Wisconsin firefighter who wanted to help.

"He deserves to do a lot more time," said Keane, of Engine Co. 39, which lost two men in the terrorist attacks. "Everybody wants to see him fry. But that's what I figured he'd get for this type of crime."

A Queens woman from whom Brandl stole $1,500 and property while posing as a firefighter said he needed a long time behind bars.

"For Mr. Brandl to use the Sept. 11 attacks for his own personal gain can only classify him as some type of animal," Lori Wirta wrote in a letter read in court by Assistant District Attorney Allen Bode.

"Just like any animal that preys on human beings, he should be caged for as long as the law will allow," she said.

New York prosecutors said they agreed to recommend the one- to three-year term because Brandl faces charges and potentially greater prison time if he is convicted in other states, including Wisconsin, Tennessee and Florida.

Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher said he will now start the process to extradite Brandl, 34, to Wisconsin on a charge of felony theft.

A criminal complaint accuses Brandl of stealing a $50,000 Mercedes- Benz in Brookfield on Aug. 23 from a woman he met several days earlier. That woman, Rebecca Heidepriem, was appointed in September to head Gov. Scott McCallum's newly created Department of Electronic Government.

The charge carries a 10-year maximum prison term upon conviction.

Weeks later when the World Trade Center towers fell in a terrorist attack that killed thousands, Brandl rushed to his native New York, donning the persona of America's newest hero -- a firefighter.

After leaving ground zero, Brandl took his act on the road and posed as a firefighter in Nashville, Pennsylvania, Lake Tahoe and San Francisco, according to law enforcement officials interviewed and charges filed in some of those places.

Through it all, authorities allege, Brandl was driving Heidepriem's 1999 Mercedes 320 convertible, logging thousands of miles on the sleek car.

According to authorities, Brandl drove from New York to Nashville, out to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe and back east before being arrested in Hermitage, Pa. A police officer there doing a routine license plate check on the Mercedes as Brandl was buying food at a gas station after midnight Oct. 30 discovered that the car was stolen, Hermitage police have said.

Brandl said he was a firefighter who had just been at the Monday night football game between the Pittsburg Steelers and the Tennessee Titans, police said. He had talked his way onto the field to stand among firefighters being honored for rushing to the site of the fourth hijacked jetliner that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Inside Heidepriem's Mercedes, police found items stolen from victims in Illinois, Nashville and New York, including Wirta's stolen camcorder.

Also found in the Mercedes was a "thank you" note to Brandl from a Tallahassee woman who said in a telephone interview Monday that Brandl scammed her out of $500.

Joan Pratt, 36, said she met Brandl at Caesar's Palace hotel and casino in Lake Tahoe, Nev., on Oct. 22 -- one week before he was arrested in Pennsylvania.

Pratt said that Brandl initially befriended Pratt's mother at a blackjack table. "He had a ton of chips in front of him -- stacks of hundreds," she said.

He wore a San Francisco fire department sweat shirt, which also was found in the stolen Mercedes. New York police Det. Tom Lumberto said Monday that his investigation showed the sweat shirt was stolen from a San Francisco fire station where Brandl stayed for several days after Sept. 11.

Pratt said that in Lake Tahoe, Caesars Palace gave Brandl an exclusive suite for free after he said he was a firefighter back from ground zero.

She said he told her he worked for his father, a wealthy real estate magnate, but also volunteered as a firefighter on the side "because he wanted to help people."

Pratt said Brandl was charming and generous, delivering a stuffed animal and card to her hotel room with room service and telling her that he was falling for her.

She said she and her family invited him to dinner to celebrate her birthday. Brandl told the hushed group stories about digging an arm out of the World Trade Center rubble.

After she returned to Tallahassee, Brandl called her and told her he wanted to see her again, she said. He played her a love song over the telephone.

The next day, she said, he called and said he had been hospitalized from stress from what he had seen in New York and had lost his wallet and couldn't pay his medical bill.

Pratt said she agreed to wire him $500 after he promised to pay her back as soon as his parents returned from an Alaskan cruise.

Days later she got a call from Pennsylvania police, saying they found her name in the Mercedes and that Brandl had been arrested. She called Tallahassee authorities, who have filed a warrant for Brandl with a charge of grand theft.

"I felt so violated," she said. "He was so good. He used the most tragic thing in this nation to take advantage of people."

Tallahassee police Inspector Alvin Anderson said Monday that Florida prosecutors plan to extradite Brandl when other states' charges are resolved.

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