Cops: Fake Corrections Officer Abducted, Robbed Brooklyn Man
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- Police are hunting down a man they say is posing as a New York City corrections officer. Investigators say the fraud forced a man into his car and then robbed him.
Police say a fake corrections officer abducted a man right outside Joseph Guerrero's Fort Greene, Brooklyn home last Thursday night, CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez reported.
Guerrero says as he walked up to his stoop on Vanderbilt Avenue, a neighborhood man – who asked to not be identified – came running up the street.
"Here he comes, sweating and disheveled and upset, and he said that he had just been robbed by a gentleman posing as a corrections officer," Guerrero said. "Not a police officer, a corrections officer."
Witnesses say a man in a grey car that looked like an unmarked squad car pulled up in front of 93 Vanderbilt Ave. posing as a correction officer and confronted the victim and his friends.
"According to him, they were armed; they presented a badge, they had handcuffs but a grey, regular car," Guerrero said.
Police say the impersonator flashed his badge and gun, demanding that the victim get into the car.
"I guess I would probably follow suit, but maybe ask more questions," Fort Greene resident Anaiis Cisco said. "Nowadays, you don't know."
Investigators say the suspect drove the man to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Flushing Avenue, forced him out of the car, and robbed the victim of his wallet and cash before taking off.
Meg Pantera was shocked to hear the brazen crime happened right outside her home.
"You've gotta be aware on the streets again which, for a while there, we weren't," Pantera said. "You have to be aware of everything."
Although some Fort Greene residents say they are uneasy that the suspect is still on the loose, they say they refuse to live in fear.
Police say the victim was not injured. Internal Affairs is investigating the case.
