By WILLIAM KATES, The Associated Press
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 an 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.
Lepianka was arrested Saturday night. He told police he stopped a pickup truck that had run several red lights. Several occupants fled and Lepianka used his cell phone to call 911. He identified himself as an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who needed help, Cecile said. Lepianka said he had one suspect in custody.
When Syracuse police arrived, Lepianka told them he was Deputy J. Atkins, Cecile said. Lepianka used police jargon “but something just didn’t seem quite right about him” to the investigating officers, he said.
Police learned the truth about Lepianka after checking with the sheriff’s department. He was arrested at home.
Cecile said police found all “the necessary accouterments” to be a police officer, including two prop guns, handcuffs and pepper spray.
Lepianka told police he always wanted to be a police officer and got the uniforms and police equipment from his previous job as a mall security guard. Cecile said police were trying to determine how Lepianka obtained an official city police patch for his uniform, as well as the pepper spray.
Cecile said police also took a statement from Lepianka’s former girlfriend, Jennie Wilson, 20, of Auburn, who told detectives she thought LePianka was a volunteer deputy.
She told detectives that Lepianka would wear his uniform whenever the couple went to the mall or a restaurant, Cecile said.
“She said he would frequently pull over people, lecture them, and then let them go. There’s no indications he ever wrote any tickets,” Cecile said.
Even if Lepianka did raise any suspicions, most motorists would have been so relieved to have escaped a ticket and been let off with just a warning, they would never bother to report any concerns, Cecile said.