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Now, State Police are trying to find out whether anyone else has fallen victim to the fraud.
“If anybody has been stopped by this guy, please contact detectives at the Holmdel barracks,” State Police Detective Brian Polite told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The number: 732.264.4576
Scott Linton, 45, was arrested at his Carteret home and charged with impersonating a police officer following a spree that lasted nearly a year, Polite said.
“He went wrong when one of the people he tried to pull over was an off-duty police officer from Green Brook who took down his registration information and went to State Police,” the detective told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM.
Although Linton lives in Middlesex County, the stops and attempted stops have happened “up and down the Parkway,” Polite told the web site.
NJSP Supt. Col. Rick Fuentes proudly displays the agency’s uniform
Linton drove a gray 1992 Toyota 4runner “tricked out with strobe lights in the front and rear and a PA system equipped with police sirens,” he said. “He also had a hand-held police scanner and an insignia on his rear window that said ‘State trooper’.”
Polite said motorists should know there are steps they can take if they “feel something’s not right.”
“If you have a situation like that where you feel someone is trying to fraudulently stop you, call 911 and request a marked unit,” he told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM. “If you’re anxious or afraid, you can signal that you want to move forward to a better-lighted area.”
Polite also noted that New Jersey State Troopers who use unmarked cars on traffic detail always wear the agency’s distinctive blue uniform.
“This is definitely a safety issue,” Polite said, emphasizing that the more people who come forward, the better case detectives can make. In doing so, hopefully they can deter others from doing the same thing.
“Some impersonators rob people of their money,” he warned. “Or worse.”
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