A Cheektowaga man was arrested on multiple charges Monday October 17th after a police investigation revealed that he impersonated a police officer two days earlier.
Corey M. Shepard, 26 of Wanda Ave, on Friday night showed up on a call of a reckless driver, which Cheektowaga Police Officer Jacob Wodowski was assigned to investigate.
A Cheektowaga Police 911 dispatcher informed the officer that the complaint was called in by an off-duty Buffalo Police Officer.
Shortly after Officer Wodowski located and stopped the vehicle in question, a vehicle driven by Shepard pulled up to the scene. Shepard, who was wearing a dark police uniform, duty gun belt, handgun, and ballistic vest with the word “POLICE”, identified himself as a Buffalo Police Officer. Shepard told the officer that he called in the complaint of a possible drunk driver to 911 and said that he would cover Officer Wodowski on the call. Officer Wodowski determined that the driver was not intoxicated and released the driver. In speaking with Shepard further the Cheektowaga Officer began to feel that Shepard was acting suspicious, but the two parted ways after Shepard quickly showed the officer a badge and ID card.
In investigating the incident further, a review of dash cam video showed that Shepard pointed his gun at the driver of the stopped vehicle when the Cheektowaga Officer was approaching the driver. Further investigation revealed that Shepard was neither a police officer anywhere nor was he a security guard.
On Monday, Cheektowaga Police arrested Shepard at his residence and found numerous police related items and equipment. These include: parking tickets stolen from the Buffalo Police Department, a ballistic vest with the word “POLICE” in bold letters, a fake Taser, various police uniforms, handcuffs, pepper spray, police baton, handcuff key, 7 fake police ID cards, 6 fake police badges, and a “POLICE” ball cap. Also found were 5 hypodermic needles and 14 vials of a steroid. Shepard was charged with Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Impersonation, Possession of a Hypodermic Instrument, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, and multiple counts of Possession of a Forged Instrument.
Shepard currently works for a local security company installing and maintaining security systems.
Cheektowaga Police are concerned that Shepard may have victimized the public in the past and are asking if anyone has been the victim of Shepard representing himself as a police officer to report the incident to the Cheektowaga Police or any other police agency in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred.
They can call 686-3544 during the day or 686-3508 after 4:00 PM.
Shepard was arraigned by Judge Dennis Gorski who released him on $1,000.00 cash bail.
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