A Rico Suave-looking mofo impersonated a police officer and stole stuff from a man that was pulled over in San Clemente, at least based on the artist's sketch released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD).
The victim says he was driving north on the 5 freeway around 9:20 p.m. Thursday when he noticed flashing red and blue lights behind him. The driver got off the freeway and pulled into the Jack-in-the-Box parking lot located at 2938 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente.
Once out of the presumed police unit, the “officer” dressed in SWAT-like clothing immediately barked orders and the driver to get out of his vehicle and sit on the curb. The driver complied.
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Who could blame him? According to the account he later gave the sheriff's department, the driver was subjected to an “extremely aggressive” cop. This must have seemed even weirder considering he wasn't in Newport Beach or Huntington Beach.
Anyways, as the fellow sat on the curb, the “cop” took the poor sap's wallet, cell phone and keys out of the vehicle, according Lt. Jeff Hallock, the sheriff's spokesman.
Now, I think the drawing looks just like the fictional gigolo Rico Suave (of my dreams), but the person who was actually ripped off described him further as Hispanic, 25-35 years old, with medium length hair and a thin mustache. The SWAT-type clothing consisted of a black long-sleeved shirt and pants with no visible patches, markings or insignias.
A second person was seen near the phony cop's vehicle, but the victim didn't get a good enough look at him or her to provide a description, Hallock says.
There is also some confusion over the suspect vehicle. The victim described it as a Ford Crown Victoria, similar to an unmarked police vehicle. But a witness described it as an Infinity G35 or G37 with police-type lights on the dashboard, according to Hallock.
Anyone with more information (unrelated to one-hit wonder Gerardo) is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department's South Investigations Unit at 949.361.8224 or 714.647.7000. Anonymous tips may left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855.847.6227 (855-TIP-OCCS) or via occrimestoppers.org.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.