College student sentenced for posing as Investigation Bureau officer

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) A university student who gave presentations to students at his former Changhua County junior high school claiming to be a Ministry of Justice investigator has been sentenced to 15 days in jail, according to a verdict released Sunday.

In its verdict, the Changhua District Court said Huang had undermined the credibility of the Investigation Bureau by knowingly posing as one of its officers in front of students.

Nevertheless, Huang's presentations at the school were aimed at spreading law enforcement knowledge, and did not constitute a serious infringement of the bureau's authority, the court said, adding that Huang had also been cooperative following his arrest.

Given those factors, though the court found Huang guilty under the Criminal Code for posing as a public official, it only sentenced him to 15 days in prison, commutable to a fine at a rate of NT$1,000 (US$31.81) per day.

The verdict can be appealed.

According to the indictment against him, the university student, surnamed Huang (黃), created a fake badge and brought it with him to meet with teachers at the Changhua junior high he had attended on May 1, 2023.

After claiming to work on the "041 investigation team" at the Investigation Bureau's Taichung branch office, Huang was taken to a classroom to speak to students about his career and experiences as a government investigator.

Later that month, on May 24, Huang was invited back to the school to deliver slideshow presentations to 10 classes of students on the Investigation Bureau's duties and salary structure, prosecutors said.

For these speeches, he not only brought his fake badge, but also a bulletproof vest he had purchased online, a police baton, BB gun, handcuffs and other props, the indictment said.

A teacher present at one of the lectures, however, found Huang's story suspicious, based on both his description of his job and the fact that he was only 20 years old, and later reported him to the police and the Changhua County Education Department, leading to the court case.