7thriv

A Redwood City man has been charged in federal court with impersonating a federal agent for allegedly victimizing a family that was threatened with jail and deportation for immigration fraud unless they paid $50,000, court records show.

Frank Salvador Solorza, 45, was arrested Feb. 10 after he pedaled up to a San Mateo County home on a bicycle - while dressed in a clown suit - and grabbed a briefcase that he believed contained the money, authorities said.

Solorza claimed that three gang members put him up to the scam, in which six members of a family received phone calls and letters purportedly from U.S. immigration officials, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.