‘Impersonating a public servant,’ ‘false imprisonment’: Afternoon at store takes strange turn

By Mike Valente

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    PITTSBURGH (WTAE) — New video obtained exclusively by Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 has shed more light on the alleged actions of a man facing a slew of charges — including impersonating a public servant and false imprisonment — deriving from his presence inside a Mount Oliver convenience store earlier this month.

The owner of Brownsville Beer and Convenience Store gave Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 permission to publish security camera footage from inside his store on the afternoon of Friday, July 19.

The footage — broken up into several clips — appears to show Donald Blanchard, 48, inside the store, wearing a badge and a shirt with the word “AGENT” emblazoned on the back.

At times, Blanchard can be seen idling around the store. In other moments, he appears to be in deep conversation with store employees.

A criminal complaint written for Blanchard alleged that he came into the store July 19 and told an employee working the register that he needed to see the store’s business license and the identifications of every employee. The employee behind the register told police that Blanchard demanded he close the store and that “everyone needed to go in the backroom and give him their cellphones,” according to the complaint.

In an interview with police two days later, the owner of the store told police that he received a call from an employee who said there was an “officer at the store” and that the owner needed to come back. Per the complaint, the owner said that Blanchard demanded all the employees go to the backroom — actions that appear to be confirmed by the footage reviewed by Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.

When in the backroom, the owner said Blanchard asked if he “wanted to go to jail or pay him $10,000.” The owner also reported that when he tried to leave, Blanchard “pushed him five to six times and told him to sit down.”

When police officers responded to Brownsville Beer that Friday afternoon, the complaint alleged, Blanchard told them he worked for Baker Securities and that he was “sent by Harrisburg.” Blanchard also allegedly handed officers a business card that read “TDRecovery, LLC.” The complaint said that the business card listed Blanchard as a licensed repossession recovery agent.

Blanchard also allegedly told officers that he was in the store the day before and had observed employees selling tobacco to minors. The store’s owner denied that accusation in a conversation with Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.

Police were unable to verify the agency where Blanchard worked or his status as a repossession recovery agent, according to the complaint.

Blanchard is charged with three counts of false imprisonment, three counts of theft by extortion, three counts of theft by deception, three counts of terroristic threats, three counts of impersonating a public servant, one count of harassment, and one count of false reports to law enforcement.

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