Passaic County law enforcement apprehended a man who allegedly impersonated a cop so that his girlfriend could get out of a traffic ticket in Paterson, NJ.

A Passaic County Sheriff’s officer was on patrol near Presidential Boulevard in Paterson when he reportedly noticed a female driver using her cellphone while driving a 2016 black Nissan Rouge. The traffic cop pulled over the vehicle and talked to the driver.

According to authorities, the driver claimed that she was talking on her cell phone while driving because an urgent situation required her to communicate with her boyfriend. Moreover, the woman allegedly said that her boyfriend was a police officer.

The boyfriend soon showed up at the scene and spoke with the Passaic County NJ cop. He reportedly told the patrol officer that he used to work as a police officer in Hillsdale and Kearny, New Jersey. Additionally, the suspect allegedly claimed that his girlfriend, the person driving the car, was a New Jersey State Trooper.

The suspect was unable to provide law enforcement identification or any other proof that he was a police officer, so the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office contacted the New Jersey State Police, the Hillsdale Police Department, the Kearny Police Department, and the NJ State Department of Corrections. Not a single one of these agencies could confirm that the suspect was a cop.

Investigators were soon able to determine that the suspect worked as a security guard, not as a cop.

When police searched the suspect, they found a Glock 19 handgun.

The suspect, a 32-year-old man who lives in Paterson, now faces criminal charges for impersonating a police officer. The suspect was not charged with illegal possession of a handgun because he reportedly has a legal permit to carry the weapon.

For more information about this case, see the NJ.com article, “Man Allegedly Posed as Cop to Get Girlfriend out of Ticket.”