NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – A Queens man was arrested Tuesday for impersonating a Department of Homeland Security agent during a traffic stop on Long Island, police said.
A Suffolk County officer was driving a marked police car on the Long Island Expressway, near Exit 53 in Brentwood, around 12:30 p.m. when he noticed an Audi A8 traveling eastbound on the shoulder of the HOV lane with blue and red lights flashing from the windshield, police said.
The officer pulled the Audi over and spoke with the driver, Fernando Garnecho, who portrayed himself as an on-duty Homeland Security agent, according to police.
Garnecho, 55, was wearing a black Homeland Security jacket with law enforcement insignia patches and the letters "ICE" on the front and back, police said.
He also had a black replica handgun in a leather holster on the passenger seat and was in possession of a placard and other law enforcement identifiers, which appeared to the officer to be fake, according to police.
Garnecho was arrested after the officer determined he wasn’t actually a Homeland Security agent, police said.
Garnecho, of Elmhurst, was charged with first-degree criminal impersonation.
He was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.
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