Reyel Simmons made a habit of posing as a federal law enforcement agent or a member of the military. (Federal court records/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A southern Minnesota man has been sentenced to six years in prison for posing as a Department of Homeland Security officer on social media, where he built a following of thousands and lured unsuspecting women into relationships.

Reyel D. Simmons, 53, of Dodge Center, Minn., was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul last week after pleading guilty in January to impersonating a federal officer and illegal weapons possession. Simmons' sentence includes three years of supervision after he leaves prison.

Before sentencing, prosecutors argued for Judge Eric Tostrud to give Simmons a term of more than seven years, pointing out that he carried out his scheme behind his wife's back while at the same time dating the woman who eventually turned him in.

Defense attorney James Becker proposed a two-year sentence. Becker noted that Simmons had an alcoholic mother and was raised in Denver by alcoholic grandparents. He also struggled with dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder in school.

Becker acknowledged in a court filing that his client "maintained his fictional biography with several women with whom he had romantic relationships, including the woman he married and deceived for many years."

But, the attorney continued, he "never accrued any financial benefit … and never sought to use his (mis)identity to gain access to restricted areas or information. … In truth, Mr. Simmons was merely playing dress-up to impress people around him and to woo women."

According to court documents:

The FBI received a tip last summer from a woman who met Simmons on TikTok about him posing as an agent with Homeland Security under the pseudonym Rey Reeves. In reality, he was working for Shutterfly in Shakopee.

Simmons collected nearly 10,000 TikTok followers while using a profile photo of him wearing law enforcement gear and made several posts displaying badges and firearms and referring to himself as a federal agent.

Not only has Simmons never been a Homeland Security agent, he's never been connected with any law enforcement agency in an official capacity. Nor has he ever been in the military, as he claimed.

Simmons regularly carried a backpack that he called his "go bag." It bore a Homeland Security emblem and contained a handgun, fake Homeland Security badge and other items supporting his ruse.

The woman who tipped off the FBI said she and Simmons traveled between Minnesota and Georgia between February and August 2021 to spend time together.

Whenever they were in Minnesota, they stayed in hotels in the Twin Cities. He told her Homeland Security was paying for the room "due to his undercover assignments in the area," the original charges read. He said his cases included child sex trafficking.

She said his pickup truck had additional lighting on the front bumper and was equipped with a police radio.

He routinely told the woman that he was a Navy SEAL and claimed to know Chris Kyle, a SEAL whose life was the basis for the movie "American Sniper."

Simmons' charade began to unravel in August 2021, when a commenter on his TikTok page wrote: "stolen valor — impersonating a police officer again, oh and can proof be provided!"

The woman contacted the commenter and learned of Simmons' prior acts of impersonating an officer in Colorado. She then went to the FBI with what she knew. In the meantime, Simmons continued communicating with the woman and keeping up his act, not knowing that she had turned him in.

The commenter told the FBI that the two of them worked in Colorado for Energis Oilfield from 2017 to 2019, when he presented himself as a SEAL and former Denver police officer. Simmons also sent his co-worker a photo of himself with a holstered gun and wearing a shirt with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement logo.

Law enforcement seized eight handguns and rifles from Simmons' residence in Minnesota. Some were discovered in a basement bunker with a hidden doorway.

Simmons admitted to possessing unregistered silencers/suppressors, a detonating cord containing an explosive, a blasting cap, thousands of rounds of ammunition, body armor with law enforcement emblems affixed to it and other law enforcement-style badges, clothing, bags and identification documents.

His guilty plea to illegal weapons possession is connected to felony convictions out of Colorado for soliciting for prostitution in 2015 and for making a threat with a weapon in 2007 while pointing what turned out to be a BB gun at people in a car and presenting himself as a federal agent.

The encounter began when the car hit Simmons' vehicle. He handcuffed the driver and headbutted a passenger.