Woman faked being a federal agent to get Chick-fil-A discount: cops

A Georgia woman was so desperate for a discount at Chick-fil-A that she impersonated a federal law enforcement officer — even telling managers she was working undercover, according to authorities.

Tara Marie Solem, of Marietta, was charged Thursday on two felony counts of impersonating an officer in connection with an incident in July at a Chick-fil-A location in Macland Cross Circle, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Solem at first tried to convince a drive-through employee that she was a federal agent but was unsuccessful. She then went inside the restaurant and flashed a silver badge at two managers in a bid to persuade them that she was a federal law enforcement officer.

“She stated that she was undercover and that for them asking her to be in uniform would blow her cover and [possibly] get her killed,” according to the arrest warrant cited by the paper.

Solem also called the fast-food chain’s corporate offices in Atlanta to complain, giving her name as “Agent Solem” before changing her story and claiming to be an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

An officer, however, noted in the warrant that the law enforcement agency had no record of a former or current employee by that name.

During the confrontation, Solem cursed in front of customers, including children, according to a warrant.

The situation grew so heated that employees eventually called the police. Solem was arrested at the restaurant July 5 on charges of impersonating an officer and disorderly conduct, WXIA reports.

 

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911 dispatcher killed in suspected drunk driving crash involving church pastor

Jenna Bixby was killed Saturday night after her car was struck by a wrong-way driver.

 (Nikki Orlicki/Fox 9)

A Minneapolis 911 dispatcher who worked “day-and-night to keep people safe” was tragically killed over the weekend after her car was struck by a church pastor who was driving the wrong way and is believed to have been drinking, police say.

Jenna Bixby, 30, was killed around 8 p.m. while heading to her job Saturday night on Highway 252 in Brooklyn Park.

“We just want to know why,” her sister, Nikki Orlicki, told FOX9. “We don’t understand. Why her? She was going to work to save people, and somebody decided to take her life and didn’t care.”

Authorities said Bixby’s car was hit head on by an SUV driven by Richard J. Shaka, a retired 72-year-old minister from Blaine, and alcohol is suspected to have been a factor. Bixby was pronounced dead at the scene while Shaka was in critical condition Sunday at a local hospital. No charges have been announced yet in the case.

“Minneapolis’ Emergency Communications staff work day-and-night to keep people safe. As a 911 Dispatcher, that’s what Jenna Bixby did for years – and what she was on her way to do at City Hall when her life was tragically taken late last night,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “My thoughts are with her family, friends, neighbors and all of her colleagues in City Hall who are mourning her loss. She was an extraordinary person.”

Bixby started working with Minneapolis emergency communications nearly four years ago and helped train new members, the Star Tribune reported.

“Please know that I never stopped loving you with all my heart, and I will never stop loving you,” her husband Daniel wrote on Facebook Sunday morning, according to the newspaper.

Shaka was the founder of the All Nations Christian Assembly in North East Minneapolis, where he served as a pastor for 17 years.

“Our mission is to reach all the nations in the Twin Cities and the metropolitan in MN and the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ through missions, Evangelism and the proclamation of the Gospel,” the Assembly, which describes itself as an “international Bible believing church,” says on its website.

Shaka also taught at North Central University’s Bible and Theology Department from 1996 to 2011, and started a Twin Cities nonprofit group that builds orphanages and youth facilities in Sierra Leone, his home country, the Star Tribune reported.

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