Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a man accused of running a complex officer impersonation scheme.
24-year-old Douglas Roberts faces 41 felony counts, including 20 counts of impersonating an officer, 20 counts of possession of a forged instrument, and violating Alabama’s Blue Light Law.
Detectives say Roberts had a fully equipped Chevy Tahoe, equipped with scanners, a radio and law enforcement style lights.
A search warrant of his home uncovered several other items including three guns, ammunition, badges, a vest marked ‘police,’ pepper spray and several fake parking tickets.
“I think he thinks he’s a police officer,” said Captain Paul Burch of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. “The type of equipment is just not normal for a person to want to have.”
Investigators started working the case after a woman found a citation on her vehicle at USA Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She showed the ticket to a deputy working there who noticed it looked unusual.
According to investigators Roberts would place the citations on vehicles with a PO Box address for people to mail money to pay the ‘fine.’
Thus far 20 victims have been identified, but deputies say there could be more.
