FBI raids wrong hotel room during training exercise; interrogates innocent man for an hour

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sources say the FBI, along with other federal agents, entered the wrong Boston hotel room as part of a training exercise Tuesday night.

Sources told WBZ chief investigative reporter Cheryl Fiandaca that mistakes were made as federal agents conducting a mock investigation in the middle of the night woke up an airline pilot who had no idea what was going on.

They handcuffed the man and interrogated him for nearly an hour before realizing their mistake, sources said.

It happened on the 15th floor of the Revere Hotel on Stuart Street.

I-Team sources say late Tuesday night, FBI and Department of Defense agents banged on the door to Room 1505 demanding to be let in. A Delta Air Lines pilot who was a guest at the hotel was sleeping inside, woke up and opened the door. Agents barged in, handcuffed the man who is in his 30s, interrogated him and put him in the shower.

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It was more than 45 minutes before they took off the handcuffs, realized their mistake, and apologized.

Sources say the agents were conducting a training operation and a mock interrogation for a Department of Defense deployment.

Hotel security was notified about the incident and contacted Boston Police.

The I-Team obtained the police report; it shows responding officers, wearing body cameras, were told law enforcement agents were conducting a training exercise inside the building.

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Vic Hartman, a former 25-year veteran of the FBI, said the training exercise in public does not make sense to him.

"Night arrests are unusual so why would you train for a night arrest at 10 p.m.," Hartman said. "It's unusual, there could be a justification for it, it's just not apparent to me on the surface."

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