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Adam Lee Benkel (MUGSHOT: River Vale PD; INSET: Facebook)
It began in June 2005, when Benkel attended a graduation party for EMT students at the Bergen County Public Safety Academy wearing a white EMT uniform, with EMT lapel pins and patches that included one with a Tri-Boro Ambulance Corp. insignia, a cease-and-desist letter obtained by CLIFFVIEW PILOT reads.
Benkel — an only child whose 27th birthday is today — paid a $200 fine and was sentenced to two years probation by a Superior Court judge in Hackensack the following May after pleading guilty to impersonating a law enforcement officer and illegal weapons possession, court records show.
Only 11 days after the judge granted probation, Benkel was in different duds:
He attended a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony in Park Ridge “wearing a dress uniform with New Jersey EMT-B patches on each sleeve, as well as gold EMT Badge,” wrote Karen Halupke, director of Emergency Medical Services for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
“No person shall impersonate, refer to himself or herself as, act in the capacity of or perform the duties of, an EMT-Basic or EMT-Instructor unless he or she is certified or recognized by the Department,” Halupke wrote in her letter, dated Jan. 10, 2007.
As a result, state officials banned Benkel from ever becoming an EMT in New Jersey.
In addition to the new criminal charges in River Vale, Benkel is also subject to hefty fines from the department following his pre-dawn arrest.
(SEE: Bergen man had knife, handcuffs, badges, phony police gear and more, authorities say)
Benkel first claimed to be an EMT, then said he was “in the process of” becoming one, after he was stopped for speeding at 4 in the morning last week, Detective Sgt. John DeVoe told CLIFFVIEW PILOT for a story published Tuesday.
In the car’s console, Sgt. Christopher Bulger found a knife and a starter pistol that could easily be mistaken for the real thing in the dark, DeVoe said.
This led investigators to a trove of phony police paraphernalia — including badges, handcuffs and a starter pistol, the sergeant said.
Benkel comes from a prominent Bergen County family: His father, Herbert D. Benkel, D.D.S., is Chief of Endodontics at Hackensack University Medical Center. His mother is on the Board of Directors of the Bergen County YJCC.
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