Timothy Ervin Trivett, 54, is charged with impersonating a police officer.
A Virginia man was charged with impersonating a police officer after a Maryland State trooper spotted him attempt a traffic stop on Interstate 695 near Baltimore on Saturday, police said Sunday.
Timothy Ervin Trivett, 54, of Yorktown, was wearing body armor, a badge, uniform and what appeared to be police equipment when a state trooper pulled up behind his 2012 black and white Chevrolet Impala on the outer loop of the interstate Saturday night.
State police said Trivett stopped a gray Honda Accord about 8:30 p.m. near I-695 at Green Spring Avenue and attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the driver. His Impala had blue and white flashing lights.
The trooper had been watching Trivett's vehicle weaving in and out of traffic and followed him. When Trivett succeeded in pulling the motorist over, the trooper pulled in behind him and proceeded to talk to him, according to state police spokeswoman Elena Russo.
Russo said the trooper suspected something was off and intercepted Trivett before he had a chance to talk to the driver who had been pulled over.
"He noticed something just wasn't right," Russo said. "There was something about the way the individual responded to the trooper's questions about what he was doing there on the scene. Trivett couldn't show credentials that he had any police powers."
Russo said the uniform Trivett was wearing did not immediately identify him as a member of any local law enforcement agency, but he flashed some kind of badge. It looked like a security guard uniform and Trivett wore body armor over it.
He also had a full gun belt, including loaded weapons.
"Anything a police officer would have legitimately," Trivett had on him, Russo said.
According to court records, Trivett was charged with impersonating a police officer, which is a misdemeanor. He also faces four gun charges.
In Maryland, it is a misdemeanor to transport a handgun in a vehicle if it is not stored in a container and it must be stored separately from the ammunition.
He was taken to the Baltimore County detention center and was later released on an unsecured bond. That means if Trivett fails to appear for his court hearing, he will have to pay a $10,000 fine, Russo said.
State police are still investigating and do not know how long Trivett was out on the streets allegedly pretending to be an officer.
"We were fortunate to have a trooper in the area notice that this apparent fake traffic stop was about to occur," Russo said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)