Woman likely victim of police impersonator

Saturday evening, a female driver reported that a man, dressed in a black uniform with silver-outlined shield patches on his shoulders, stopped the vehicle that she was driving in the area of SR-207 and Hilltop Road; presumably, because she was “speeding”.

Now St Johns County Sheriff’s spokesperson Catherine Payne tells Historic City News that the man who stopped the woman and her two small children, most likely was impersonating a police officer.

The victim described to investigators a black colored sedan that followed her vehicle from Interstate 95 eastbound on to SR-207. According to her statement, the black sedan activated what appeared to be white strobe lights — signaling her to pull over.

The driver of the black sedan had some sort of logo on the front-chest area of his shirt; however, the victim said that she did not recognize it. She did notice that although the “officer” was wearing a gun belt, he did not appear to have a gun in the holster.

The driver said that she answered questions from the man in the uniform about her driving, but she became suspicious when he asked about a knife set that she had on the floor of her vehicle. The victim stated that the man told her that he had to confiscate the knives because they posed a danger to the children.

When he took the knife set and walked back to his vehicle, the woman says that she drove off and the man did not follow her.

The man believed to be a police impersonator, was described as white in his mid to late 20’s with brown hair, blue eyes, no tattoos or facial hair and approximately 5’7”- 5’9”, 210-225 lbs.

Only law enforcement vehicles are permitted to display blue emergency lights from the front; fire emergency vehicles may display red lights from the front. Police may have additional white lights on their marked vehicles; however, they probably will not use white strobe lights as emergency lights to pull over drivers from an unmarked patrol car.

Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to contact the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office at (904) 824-8304. You can remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a cash reward by calling CrimeStoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-888-277-TIPS (8477).