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Eric Diaz, age 43, of Brentwood, was sentenced to two to four years behind bars in Suffolk County Court on Monday, Nov. 13.
It followed his earlier guilty plea to felony criminal possession of a forged instrument after he was busted with multiple fraudulent NYPD identification cards.
According to prosecutors, Diaz posed as a cop on multiple occasions while visiting a retail store in Bay Shore between April and May 2023.
During the visits, he displayed what looked like a police badge, handcuffs, and a handgun and asked for a “police discount.”
In August 2023, Diaz was stopped by police and found with a holstered electronic stun gun and numerous fraudulent law enforcement cards. Among them was a fake NYPD sergeant ID card.
Police then searched his Brentwood home where they found phony pistols, a gun belt, a bulletproof vest, and handcuffs.
“When individuals attempt to impersonate law enforcement officers, they damage the credibility of the honest men and women who are the true enforcers of the law and risk their lives every day as part of their duties,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
“This defendant attempted to wrongfully benefit from the public service of our sworn law enforcement members and now he’s going to benefit from our correctional facilities as an inmate.”
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