# Bogus Cop Nabbed in Tampa



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*VALERIE KALFRIN, *
_Tampa Tribune (Florida)_









TAMPA - Police are concerned about the behavior of a Tampa man who purported to be a sex-crimes officer at Ballast Point Park on Monday to coax two men into his car.
Twice in the past three years, Anthony Cusumano, 22, has pretended to be a paramedic or a volunteer firefighter - anything but the ambulance driver he is, Tampa police said. He is a licensed emergency medical technician who formerly work for Americare Ambulance Service in Seffner.
Officers on Monday charged Cusumano, of 1404 E. Chelsea St., with impersonating a police officer after he approached two men in the park at 5314 Interbay Blvd. that morning, flashed a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy badge and said he was "an undercover police officer investigating sex crimes," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
He asked the men, both 22, to get into his car, McElroy said. They asked a bystander to call 911.
When officers arrived, Cusumano told them he was armed and surrendered a .40-caliber pistol, for which he had a concealed weapons permit, McElroy said.
Inside his gold Chevrolet Impala, outfitted with strobes and red-and-blue flashing lights, officers found two gun magazines, a ballistic vest, two gun belts, pepper spray, a baton, two sets of handcuffs and a laminated card with the Miranda warning advising arrestees of their constitutional rights, McElroy said.
Cusumano told the officers he is being hired by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, which investigators could not confirm, McElroy said.
Authorities are not sure how he obtained the badge. Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter estimated that about a dozen deputies' badges have disappeared through burglaries to their homes and vehicles.
Cusumano was released Monday from a Hillsborough County jail on $2,000 bail. If convicted of the third-degree felony, he could face up to five years in prison.
Phone calls to his home and to a relative in Riverview were not returned.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show he has no prior criminal record. According to Tampa police reports, Cusumano is a frequent public-safety imposter.
In 2003, he arrived at a Hillsborough County mock-disaster casualty drill at Tampa International Airport driving a vehicle with the license plate "Rescue9" and wearing a shirt labeling him as a paramedic, McElroy said. Without proper credentials, he was forced to leave.
A Dodge Intrepid registered in his name last year bears the license plate "Rescue9," public records show.
In October, a Tampa officer issuing Cusumano a ticket for running a stop sign noticed red and white lights in his vehicle, McElroy said. Cusumano told the curious officer he was a volunteer firefighter in Mango and needed the lights to respond to emergency calls, McElroy said.
Such red and white lights are not illegal, but police were concerned Cusumano might use them to pull over someone, McElroy said.
The officer notified a detective, who discovered Cusumano was not a volunteer firefighter and found him at Americare. Once confronted, Cusumano contacted an attorney, who arranged an agreement that Cusumano would sell the equipment to a public-safety company and give the detective a receipt, McElroy said.
Reporter Stephen Thompson contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or .
Photo: Anthony Cusumano
He has pretended to be a paramedic and volunteer firefighter in the past three years, police said.

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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

Now He Can Pretend To Be A Corrections Officer!!!!


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## JoninNH (Jan 29, 2004)

justanotherparatrooper said:


> Now He Can Pretend To Be A Corrections Officer!!!!


LMAO!!!!!


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