News: Man charged with impersonating firefighter at Katrina, 9/11 disasters | campbell, firefighter, paramedic, people, police - OCRegister.com: "a credit card that wasn't mine to try to impress a girl that was out of my league,' Campbell said."
SANTA ANA - A Huntington Beach man was arraigned this morning on charges that he impersonated a firefighter at the scene of disasters such as the World Trade Center collapse and hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Jim Campbell, 45, pleaded not guilty in Central Justice Center to one misdemeanor count of impersonating a firefighter and to two felony counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Officials say that Campbell posed as a paramedic captain and helicopter pilot to gain access to disaster scenes.
Campbell said he didn't obstruct official efforts at the disaster scenes.
"I was crawling under collapsed buildings, pulling people out from under collapsed structures," Campbell said.
Campbell was arrested Sept. 7, 2007, after a search of his home that capped a two-month investigation.
"This is a guy who lived out his life as a firefighter; he was completely obsessed with the idea," Deputy District Attorney Andre Manssourian said at the time. "He had turned his home literally into a shrine to the fantasy of him as a fireman, including fake letters of commendation he had made."
Campbell's lawyer pointed to a shooting by a retired Anaheim police officer Monday for a comparison.
"Here's a man that's been retired from the Anaheim police force for 31 years who identifies himself as a police officer and shoots someone and it's OK because he's a member of the club," Scott Well said. "But my client is out saving lives and rescuing people and he's being prosecuted."
Campbell owns a company called Frontline Safety Products, which sells firefighting equipment and offers CPR courses. The news of his arrest "has all but destroyed his business," Well said.
"He led people to believe in his sales pitches by fraudulently representing himself as a firefighter," Manssourian said at the time of Campbell's arrest. Manssourian left the arraignment Wednesday without commenting.
Campbell didn't lie when he called himself a firefighter, Wells said, pointing to his training in various aspects of firefighting and his volunteer work.
"He can say, 'I'm a firefighter,'" Well said. "That doesn't mean he works for the Orange County Fire Authority or LAFD. There's a tradition of volunteer firefighters that's being lost."
Campbell used to be a paramedic in Arizona, but lost his license after a 1987 conviction for stealing a credit card.
He moved to California in 1995 to work as a paramedic again, but was fired in 1997 for not disclosing his felony arrest record, officials said.
"We're all put on earth to do one thing and this is what I was put here to do," Campbell said.
Campbell said he's always wanted to be a firefighter. He started out in that direction with a job as a lifeguard when he was 14, he said, but the felony conviction kept him from going further.
"I spent money on a credit card that wasn't mine to try to impress a girl that was out of my league," Campbell said.
