Posted on 10/01/2003 6:55:08 AM PDT by bedolido
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- A 22-year-old man was charged with impersonating a sheriff's deputy after he pulled over a pickup truck and then called for assistance when the occupants fled.
It appeared that Jeremy Lepianka of Syracuse had been posing as a Onondaga County Sheriff's deputy for about two years and had stopped motorists - and lectured them - on other occasions, police said.
"He told investigators he had been working as a volunteer deputy for about two years. He said traffic violations were his main thing. Hopefully, it didn't go beyond that," Lt. Joe Cecile, a Syracuse police spokesman, said Monday.
Lepianka was arraigned Sunday on charges of impersonating a police officer, a felony, and two misdemeanors: criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a noxious substance, pepper spray. He was being held Monday on $5,000 bail or bond.
City and county authorities were investigating the case to determine how extensive Lepianka's masquerade was. Cecile said authorities had circulated a photograph of Lepianka and expected calls from motorists who had been pulled over by him.
"We've never seen anything to this extent. It's one thing to pretend ... but when you call for backup. He had to know he was going to get caught," Cecile said.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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