The police chief of a supposedly 3,000-year-old police force died suddenly on Monday, just hours after he made a court appearance on charges of impersonating a police officer.

On Monday, 47-year-old David Inkk Henry (a.k.a. "Grandmaster Henry X") died of a pulmonary embolism, just hours after he appeared before a judge, reports the L.A. Times. Just earlier that day, charges were dropped against his co-defendant Brandon Kiel (who formerly worked in the California Department of Justice under state attorney general Kamala Harris).

According to the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, this leaves one defendant left in the case, 59-year-old Tonette Hayes, who still faces four misdemeanor counts of impersonating a police officer.

Last year Henry, Kiel and Hayes were all arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on charges of perjury and impersonating a police officer. The three claimed they were part of the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, a 3,000-year-old police force with ties to the Freemasons and the Illuminati. Henry was declared chief of the force and was a self-proclaimed "Grandmaster." They caught the attention of real-life law enforcement when they sent letters to police departments across Southern California, declaring their existence and wanting to schedule meetings. Investigators uncovered badges, uniforms, weapons, and "police-type vehicles" at two addresses in Santa Clarita.

Attorney Gary Casselman says officials first and foremost should have given the Masonic Fraternal Police Department a warning instead of bringing a case before them. Casselman said to the Times that police "could have told Mr. Henry and Ms. Hayes and Mr. Kiel, 'Listen, this is not a good idea. Someone might think you are impersonating a police officer.'"

"I think [police] are jealous of anyone who might be perceived as an interloper or, pardon the expression, a competitor," he added.