WOOSTER, Ohio — Two Ohio deputies conducting a traffic stop were surprised to find one man inside the vehicle dressed in a homemade police uniform, with a duty belt that included handcuffs and pepper spray, WJW reported.
The other man in the vehicle also was carrying a metal badge, Wayne County deputies said. Both men also were registered sex offenders, WJW reported.
The passenger in the vehicle, Caleb Barnhart, 20, of Wadsworth was questioned separately. When deputies asked what they would find in his text messages, Barnhart said that Brubaker picked him up with the intention of going to Wadsworth to confront a woman who was a witness in a Medina County rape case scheduled for trial later this month, deputies said.
People posing as cops is nothing new. The reason I'm posting this here is a question r/t notification. Now in this particular story they didn't do a very good job of making themselves look real, but in other cases the impersonator might look more authentic, particularly if they access to a real police uniform, as a former OSP cadet did recently. If for example the witness was a CHL holder and had been confronted by these men, would she have not been at risk by immediately notifying upon being confronted?"It appeared that the reason he was wearing this uniform may have been to intimidate this young lady to answer his questions or perhaps to go away with him to some other location," Hunter told WJW.
Brubaker admitted on camera that the woman made accusations against a friend of his, Tanner Davis, 18, of Rittman, and he intended to get her to confess that the accusations were false, WJW reported.
She was a witness in a criminal case, so she wouldn't have suspected anything unusual about someone claiming to be an investigator or investigators asking her questions about it.
And what about people pretending to be plainclothes detectives, merely flashing a badge of some kind? Obviously you should try to confirm that someone is legit before saying anything to them, but what if they're real? Are they then going to pull a Harless on you for failing to promptly notify?