August 17, 2006
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

MAN IMPERSONATES OFFICER TO COLLECT DEBTS 

A Daytona Beach man was much too aggressive in trying to collect debts from business customers, going so far as to claim he was a law enforcement officer and threatening to have victims arrested if they didn’t pay up. Timothy Hanchett now faces a felony charge of impersonating an officer for the stories he spun over the phone while sitting on his bed. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office is on the lookout for Hanchett, but there is a chance he has left the state. 

A concerned citizen who had been threatened with arrest by Hanchett July 11 tipped off investigators to his scheme. Hanchett works for a magazine sales company as a debt collector. Working out of his bedroom, he called customers claiming he was Officer Steve Mueller and worked for a judge in the clerk’s office. He played up his false authority by repeatedly saying that he was making a “recorded court mandated call” and threatening victims with a same-day arrest if they didn’t return his call within 15 minutes.  

His hardball tactics scared at least one customer into giving out some credit card information to him over the phone. He implied there was a warrant or subpoena for her. Sheriff’s Office investigator Patrick Thoman posed as the victim’s husband during a subsequent phone conversation and learned that supposedly judges out of New York and Pennsylvania could be involved in the case. However, Thoman later found out that the information—warrants, judges and “officer Mueller”—was completely fabricated. 

On August 8, a search warrant was executed at Hanchett’s apartment, 1229 S. Beach Street, Apt. 2053, Daytona Beach. Hanchett was home and a small amount of drugs was found, prompting an arrest for possession of marijuana under 20 grams. He bonded out of jail and apparently left the area as investigators compiled the case for impersonating an officer partly based on evidence seized during the warrant search. 

Hanchett is a white male, 6’ tall and weighs approximately 195 pounds. He has balding brown hair and blue eyes. 

Anyone with information about Hanchett’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (386) 248-1777 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida toll-free at 1-888-277-TIPS. Callers to Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous and can qualify for a reward of up to $1,000.