Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) -- An assistant manager at a grocery store has been arrested after a female employee accused him of strip-searching her on orders from an impostor claiming he was a police officer over the telephone, police said Monday.
James Marvin Pate, 36, was arrested Saturday on charges of false imprisonment and lewd and lascivious behavior. He was released on a $10,000 bond.
The woman told investigators Pate called her into his at a Winn-Dixie store on Friday and told her she would go to jail for theft if she didn’t remove her clothing and submit to a search ordered by the caller, police said.
Police said he handed the phone over to the woman, who then undressed. Pate took her clothing, forced her to pose in different positions and refused to give her clothing back for an extended time, according to an arrest report.
Authorities have been receiving complaints about similar calls for the past five years, said police Lt. Claude Arnold. Investigators in North Dakota last week contacted Panama City police about similar calls there traced to pay phones in Panama City, Arnold said.
“Who would trust a cop over the phone like that?” Arnold mused.
Pate was neither at work nor home Monday. He did not immediately return a message seeking comment that was left at his home.
Lee Sims, a regional security director for Winn-Dixie in Montgomery, Ala., said he could not comment on Pate’s arrest because the case remained under investigation.
A number of such prank calls have been made to Winn-Dixie and other groceries, Sims said. He was unaware, however, of any other Winn-Dixie employees arrested as a result of such calls in his district, which includes Alabama and parts of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi.