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With so many local campaigns checkered by fundraising scandals, the District’s Office of Campaign Finance hired a full-time investigator earlier this year to act as watchdog over the city’s politicians and the politickers and donors who get them into office. Mayor Vince Gray’s 2010 campaign is still the subject of a federal investigation, and Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) came under fire last year for taking $25,000 in campaign donations from people tied to Jeffrey Thompson, a key fundraiser for many local elected officials as well as the city’s former Medicaid contractor.

But just who is this new investigator? The Washington Post reports that last week, OCF identified him as Payam Zeraat, a former Arlington County police officer. As OCF’s new in-house investigator, Zeraat will serve as the agency’s enforcer and paralegal.

Oh, and Zeraat’s professional history is fairly interesting. Take it away, Tim Craig:

Zeraat was dismissed from the force in August 2006, one year after he was shot while off-duty by a Prince William County police officer, according to Arlington County police.

According to media accounts of the incident, Zeraat was shot while he held a handgun and was threatening to commit suicide while sitting in a truck in the parking lot of Dale City shopping center.The Prince William officer shot Zeraat after he “made a movement that threatened” police negotiators, The Washington Post reported at the time.

Zeraat was charged with a misdemeanor charge of brandishing a firearm. He received a 30-day suspended sentence, court records show.

Still, OCF called Zeraat “well-qualified,” for the new position. Five years before the incident that led to his departure from Arlington Police, Zeraat was commended for his actions on September 11, 2001, when he responded to the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.