WADING RIVER, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A former volunteer firefighter on Long Island was indicted Tuesday for impersonating an NYPD officer, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced.
Prosecutors said Mary Ortega, 46, reported for shifts at the Wading River Fire Department and responded to a fire call wearing what appeared to be an NYPD uniform. She was later found to have had a fraudulent NYPD identification card and numerous pieces of fake NYPD attire.
Last May, Ortega was suspended by the fire department while it investigated her alleged employment with the NYPD.
Tierney said that while Ortega was suspended, she provided the fire chief with a bogus NYPD ID card and forged letters purportedly written and signed by New York State Senator Simcha Felder and Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
Both letters falsely referred to Ortega as a sworn member of the NYPD and discussed Ortega's fictitious assignment with an undercover gang and drug unit within the department.
Ortega ultimately admitted that she had never been employed or had a volunteer role with the NYPD, prosecutors said. She also admitted to purchasing the fraudulent NYPD identification card, a police shield and other police attire online.
Ortega is charged with three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, three counts of first-degree falsifying business records, three counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and second-degree criminal impersonation.
"This defendant is alleged to have violated the trust of the Wading River community by falsely holding herself out to be a New York City police officer, and then compounding that misconduct by allegedly filing forged letters from two high-ranking public officials to conceal her original crime," Tierney said.
Ortega was arraigned Wednesday before state Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei and released on her own recognizance. She is due to appear in court again on March 9.
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