Armed man pretends to be officer looking for immigrants at apartment, Florida cops say

A man flashed a gun at a Florida apartment complex and identified himself as an officer looking for undocumented immigrants, deputies said.

But 47-year-old Steven Donovan wasn’t a law enforcement officer, and now he’s charged with falsely impersonating an officer, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Orange County.

Donovan rode up on a bike to an employee at an apartment complex in Orlando on Feb. 24 and said he worked for the police and was looking for undocumented immigrants in the area, Orange County deputies wrote in the affidavit.

He asked the employee to open the door for one unit, then he opened his jacket to show his gun, the employee told deputies.

The employee then went to the front office to call the police, at which point he said Donovan “started knocking on the doors and windows screaming he was the police,” according to the affidavit.

When deputies arrived, they said Donovan described himself as a “homeland security officer” and showed a card from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that said he had applied for a class D security officer license.

Deputies said they found a gun on him and issued him a trespass warning, in addition to arresting him.

As deputies were walking him over to a patrol vehicle, Donovan said they “could not arrest him because he was a cop,” according to the affidavit.

This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Armed man pretends to be officer looking for immigrants at apartment, Florida cops say."