United States Capitol Police arrested a retired cop Friday after he presented them with a fake badge outside the Capitol.
vis People:
Jerome Felipe, 53, a former New York City police officer who now lives in Flint, Michigan, was stopped by police after parking his 2017 Dodge Challenger near Peace Circle on the west side of the Capitol shortly before 5 a.m., according to USCP.
After Felipe agreed to a search of his vehicle, police found a BB gun, two ballistic vests, several high-capacity magazines and other ammunition in the car. No other guns were found. He faces charges of Unlawful Possession of High Capacity Magazines and Unregistered Ammo.
Felipe presented USCP with a fake badge printed with “Department of the INTERPOL,” falsely claiming to be a criminal investigator with the agency, according to a USCP release.
USCP is “still working to determine the reason Felipe was parked near the U.S. Capitol.”
A New York Police Department official tells PEOPLE that Felipe retired from the force in 2018 and the department is “fully cooperating with the US Capitol Police investigation.”
When he left the department in 2018, Felipe was facing charges that he misrepresented himself in an official setting as a detective, although his actual rank was a police officer, according to NBC News.
Felipe retired on disability after less than 20 years of service, and he was not given a “good guy letter” that many retired cops are afforded, which grants them permission to carry a gun, CNBC reports.
The arrest comes after last year’s Jan. 6 riots and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, for which several active-duty and retired police officers were arrested. At least four officers who responded to the riots have since died by suicide.
Stay vigilant out there, love muffins. People seem to be losing their minds left and right.
