Dept. Of Children And Families Impersonator Sought

October 27, 2011

Law enforcement is investigating at least two incidents where someone impersonated Department of Children and Families’ child protective investigators.

One incident occurred in Santa Rosa County when a mother received a call at work from an unknown male subject who identified himself as “Matt Lyles” and said he was an investigator with DCF. The man said he was investigating a case about her son having bruises. The called was described as very professional and he knew details about her family, including her name, phone number, place of employment, date of birth, address, child’s daycare, husband’s name and his place of employment.

After the phone call, the mother went to her son’s daycare, who said they had not been contacted and did not notify DCF about any issues. The daycare center contacted DCF but the agency did not have an open case with the family.

A second incident occurred in Bay County when an unknown male and female knocked on a family’s door and asked for their baby. The mother told them the baby was with another family member. The male was dressed in a dark-colored uniform that looked like law enforcement or security and the family said he was wearing a “weird” badge. The suspects never produced any identification or explained why they were there to see the child before leaving. The mother called the local DCF office and was informed there was no open case and no one had been sent to see her.

According to DCF, their investigators always carry proper identification.  The identity of a DCF investigator can also be determined by calling a state hotline at (800) 962-2873 or a local DCF office.

Comments

3 Responses to “Dept. Of Children And Families Impersonator Sought”

  1. walnut hill mom on October 27th, 2011 9:58 pm

    Thats crazy. Thank God the parents were on top of everything this could have ended a whole lot diffrent.

  2. Jane on October 27th, 2011 7:14 am

    Never open your door to an unknown person. If they say they are from such and such agency, police, whatever, call the agency/police and ask them if an officer is dispatched to your residence! If they are from where they say they are they won’t mind your checking it out!

  3. swc on October 27th, 2011 6:35 am

    Here in Escambia County AL they have WHOLE OFFICE of nothing but Depart of child services Impersonators…Can we have them arrested too????