It was an incident that might have been dismissed as a silly prank had the prankster not posed as a well-known local official.
A man accused of filing a phony complaint with Plymouth police inexplicably claimed to be Town Manager Derek Brindisi.
The story gets stranger.
The alleged impostor turned out to be a federal police officer, working as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Boston, according to court records.
Last week, Christopher Marden, 36, of Holliston was charged with identity fraud in Plymouth District Court. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 16.
Brindisi said he doesn’t know Marden and has no idea why he may have filed the bizarre complaint in December 2024.
“Nor have I ever met him,” said Brindisi. “I am not sure why he chose to conduct himself the way he did.”
Police allege that on Dec. 9, 2024, at 9:22 p.m. an emailed complaint – allegedly from Brindisi – was sent to the Plymouth Police Department with the subject line: “Christmas Lights on Vehicle While Driving.”
According to the author, earlier that evening multiple people on the popular “All Things Plymouth” Facebook page reported contacting police about vehicles “in motion” wrapped in Christmas lights, which he said is a violation of state law.
Plymouth police officers, he claimed, were praising people for violating the law.
“Please address this ASAP and inform the public this is not allowed,” the email said.
Police Chief Dana Flynn, believing the complaint came from Brindisi, “took this as a directive from the town employee who oversees his position,” the police report said.
Flynn questioned Brindisi, who didn’t know what the chief was talking about.
But Plymouth police detective Brian Pierce, assigned to investigate, was able to identify the real author, police allege.
Pierce traced the IP address on the email — the unique number assigned to every device on the internet — back to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
A Homeland Security officer then determined that the email came from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection workstation at Logan Airport, from a user account assigned to Marden.
Pierce also searched All Things Plymouth for references to “cars wrapped in Christmas lights.” He found a single post on Dec. 9, 2024, asking whether decorating a car in holiday lights was legal in Massachusetts.
The post generated more than 100 comments, including one from someone named “Kristophoros Marden,” who reported that this activity was illegal and in violation of state regulations. (Massachusetts prohibits drivers from displaying extra lights that may distract drivers.)
Pierce searched Kristophoros Marden’s Facebook profile, which identified him as a federal police officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. His profile included a photo of a man running with a load-bearing vest – tactical equipment worn by military and law enforcement personnel.
The detective also found a Holliston police report from November 2024 describing an argument between Marden and another resident that played out on a Facebook page called “I’m Holliston Happy.”
Marden allegedly admitted to police that he’d gotten into the argument and, after being blocked by the other person, he logged into someone else’s Facebook account to keep the dispute going, the police report said.
Holliston police have not responded to a request from the Independent for a copy of the November 2024 report.
Pierce wrote that he tried to reach Marden several times but was unsuccessful.
CBP officials, cooperating with Plymouth police, were also rebuffed by Marden, who refused to submit to a voluntary interview, the police report said.
Finally on April 30, Pierce filed an application for a criminal complaint in Plymouth District Court.
A clerk’s hearing was postponed several times — once when his lawyer had a conflict; another time when Marden had a scheduled training at work.
The hearing finally took place on Sept. 11 — when a clerk magistrate found probable cause to charge Marden with identity fraud, a misdemeanor.
His lawyer, Anthony Riccio, declined comment.
If convicted, Marden faces up to 2-1/2 years in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
He faces potentially more significant consequences at work.
The agency has a lengthy social media policy that prohibits the use of any government equipment or any U.S. Customs and Border Protection account for unofficial purposes.
In an emailed statement to the Independent, Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ryan Brissette said the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility is “actively investigating the matter.”
“As a matter of policy, CBP does not comment on ongoing investigations; however, CBP employees are held to the highest standards of professional conduct, and any allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and thoroughly reviewed in accordance with established procedures,” he wrote.
For his part, Flynn said Plymouth officers don’t interact with people online, and if any officer complimented drivers for their holiday lights, he wasn’t aware of it.
“To my knowledge we as an agency did not praise anybody for their Christmas displays,” he wrote in an email. “If an individual officer did during an encounter I have no knowledge of it.”
Andea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.