By Kai Uyehara
The Seattle Times
KITSAP COUNTY, Wash. — Kitsap County prosecutors on Monday charged a security guard at a local Salvation Army with felonies after he allegedly impersonated an Edmonds police officer at the scene of a fire last week in Bremerton.
He had even acted as a backup for another Bremerton police officer earlier at a 7-Eleven near The Salvation Army, according to a Bremerton police report.
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Michael Scaletta Teates of Olympia faces charges of a first-degree criminal impersonation and a second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm with a previous felony. He had served half a year in prison in 2015 for a bomb hoax in North Carolina, according to the report that was included in the charging documents.
He pleaded not guilty at a court hearing Monday.
Scaletta Teates, 49, pulled up to a call about a small fire in a parking garage alongside a Bremerton police officer on Friday. The police report did not say why he had pulled up.
He was driving an unmarked Ford Explorer with flashing police lights and wearing a “Frankenbadge” mimicking that of the Edmonds police, along with other “police” and “SWAT” badges, body armor, and a gun, police said in the report.
A Bremerton police officer initially believed Scaletta Teates was an off-duty detective after he said he was “with Edmonds” as soon as he got out of the vehicle.
But the officer soon became suspicious, noting Scaletta Teates’ mannerisms and the fact that he said he was from another jurisdiction.
After wrapping up the fire call, the officer followed Scaletta Teates to where he’d parked at the Bremerton Salvation Army where Scaletta Teates said he worked “off-duty detail.”
Scaletta Teates told the officer that he’d worked for Edmonds police for about two years in the “robbery division” and “gang and intelligence division,” the Bremerton officer wrote in the report.
An officer who arrived as backup noticed Scaletta Teates was also wearing a “budget model” body camera that looked more like a Go-Pro than any standard issued device along with a semi-automatic pistol.
The officers ran Scaletta Teats’ background and found he had no driver’s license and was convicted of the 2015 felony bomb hoax. They handcuffed him as he insisted he was an Edmonds police officer.
He asked the officers to check his lunch bag for the credentials, but the officers only found an empty badge holder and Coca-Colas inside.
After Scaletta Teates’ arrest, the officers spoke with his co-worker at the security company contracted by the Bremerton Salvation Army. The co-worker said Scaletta Teates had just worked a shift and was wearing his police uniform and badge throughout the night.
The owner of the security company told officers Scaletta Teates told him he was a law enforcement officer and a “fire inspector.” He was hired to be unarmed and not in a law enforcement capacity, so the company didn’t verify his law enforcement status.
The police report did not say whether the company ran a general background check on Scaletta Teates. The report also did not say whether Scalettea Teates had a gun while working his shift at The Salvation Army .
The owner said he didn’t know Scaletta Teates was acting as a law enforcement officer while on duty at The Salvation Army , but knew he was “venturing off property” while wearing a police uniform.
A jury trial has been set for Scaletta Teates on November 3 .
Those who are unsure whether they are interacting with a legitimate officer can ask the officer for their name and badge number, Bremerton police said in a Facebook post. The department said people can call 911 and ask if the name and badge number given is valid.
People can also call 911 and request a second officer to the traffic stop or verify with them that an officer is in the area, the department said.
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