Riane Brownlee wore a fake FBI badge and carried a stolen gun to impress men.
U.S. District Judge Ken Bell wasn’t.
On Thursday, Bell sentenced the 39-year-old Monroe woman to three years behind bars for impersonating an FBI agent on online dating sites — and during at least one actual date — along with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Brownlee carried a long criminal record into her Charlotte sentencing hearing, with multiple convictions for identity theft along with other crimes, according to documents in her case.
“Her record paints a picture of a person who will not be stopped from stealing people’s identity and using falsehoods to get what she wants,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Kaufmann wrote in one filing.
What Brownlee wanted in February 2019 was a date. The selfies she posted on dating websites and included in her court file show her in a variety of outfits.
Her accessories, however, remained the same: a fake FBI badge and ID under the name of her pseudonym, “Alexandria Mancini.” To complete the look, Brownlee had what prosecutors say was a stolen handgun jammed into her front pants pocket. Who could resist?
On Feb. 23, 2019, according to documents, Brownlee told a man she had met for a date that she was a special FBI agent conducting a counter-drug operation.
When she was arrested the same day, Brownlee told the same guy that she had kept her identity secret from law enforcement agencies because she was working undercover, documents show.
Prosecutors say she was driving a stolen car at the time.
*story by Charlotte Observer