Fake San Jose cop swindles drivers

Some San Jose drivers have found their wallet a little lighter recently after being pulled over by a cop.

This is nothing like paying a speeding ticket. In fact, this cop isn’t even real.

A man has been pulling over primarily Spanish-speaking immigrants, flashing a “badge,” then taking his victims’ wallets to “run their IDs” in his van.

When he returns their wallets, the cash is gone. He lets his victims off with a warning after he steals the money.

The unidentified suspect struck at least three times and twice on Tuesday alone.

He’s making the job of a police officer that much harder, police Sgt. Jason Dwyer told the Merc:

“Our fear is that we want people to know about this guy because we do have officers out there; some of them are going to roll up in unmarked cars, and we want them to cooperate with us. We don’t want them to have the fear that they’re being shaken down by some criminal.”

The suspect is described as 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-7 man in his late 20s or early 30s weighing 170 to 180 pounds.

Police are advising San Jose drivers to look out for the unmarked early 2000s, dark green compact van. San Jose police do not use green vans, even if they are undercover.

Police impersonators are fairly uncommon and usually involve those who are mentally ill. Sgt. Dwyer believes this is entirely different:

“This smacks of criminal intent. This person seems to have drawn up his scheme to deliberately mislead people to rob them.”