(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Criminal charges have been filed against a Streamwood man accused of impersonating a police officer to abuse teenage girls in Park Ridge.
The police department had two female officers act as decoys after at least two incidents during which a man with a badge on a chain around his neck approached teenage girls and said he was a police officer and he needed to pat them down.
Police said he then grabbed their buttocks. The incidents occurred at night near Lincoln Middle School.
The Park Ridge officers were dressed as teenagers, according the department, and were walking in the same area when they were approached by the man who identified himself as a police officer and had the badge.
Police say he “committed a battery to one of the female officers by grabbing her chest.” They told him they’re cops and he ran and was caught after a brief chase.
James E. Tripi, 38 is charged with False Impersonation of a Police Officer, Unlawful Restraint and Aggravated Battery.
Police are trying to determine if there were other victims.
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