LAKELAND, Fla. – A Lakeland woman’s attempt to impersonate a state official ended in handcuffs this past Friday after she tried to seize a nine-year-old boy from a local home.
Nicole Terry Thomas, 56, was arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office on February 13, 2026, following a confrontation where she allegedly posed as an employee of the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
The situation unfolded around 3:22 p.m. when Thomas herself called 911. Claiming to be a DCF case manager, she requested that deputies meet her at a residence to assist in removing children from the property.
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However, when authorities arrived, they found a much more complicated and illegal scene. According to investigators, Thomas had arrived at the home alongside the boy’s biological mother, who does not have legal custody and suffers from mental disabilities.
Inside the home, 28-year-old Nyasia Brooks was babysitting four children when the boy ran inside, terrified, saying DCF was outside with his mother to take him away. According to the arrest affidavit, Brooks reported that Thomas knocked on the door and windows, identifying herself as a case manager. When Brooks refused to hand over the child, the situation escalated.
“Nyasia advised once she told Ms. Thomas she was not taking (VICTIM) anywhere, she then threatened Nyasia stating she was going to remove all of the children from the home,” the affidavit states.
Witnesses say Thomas then stood at the end of the driveway and staged a phone call, loudly proclaiming she would be working late because she had to find foster homes for every child in the house. Despite multiple requests, Thomas never produced a business card or any official identification. She refused to leave the property, eventually calling the police to “help” her finish the job.
Detectives later learned that the biological mother met Thomas through their church. Thomas reportedly convinced the woman that she worked for the state and could help her get her life back on track, including regaining custody of her son.
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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd blasted the absurdity of the plan.
“In what was probably the only smart thing she said or did that afternoon, Nicole Thomas admitted to detectives that she should have known better,” Judd said. “She impersonated a government employee, threatened to take four children, and even called 911 to try to get a deputy to help her pull it all off. I’d say she didn’t clearly think that one through.”
This wasn’t Thomas’s first brush with the law. Her extensive criminal record includes prior charges for kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse, and various counts of fraud and theft. Following her arrest on Friday, she was booked into the Sheriff’s Processing Center on a long list of charges: four counts of attempted kidnapping, unarmed burglary of an occupied dwelling, two counts of criminal action under the color of law, trespassing, and misuse of 911.
During her first appearance in court on February 15, a judge ordered that Thomas be held with no bond on the kidnapping charges. She is currently scheduled for a pre-trial hearing this coming Thursday, February 19.
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