VIDEO: Washington State Man Accused of Impersonating Officer for 25 Years
Video: Washington State Man Accused of Impersonating Officer for 25 Years
The man was caught by police in Oak Harbor (Wash.) after intervening in a domestic fight and calling 911.
September 22, 2014
A 69-year-old Oak Harbor, Wash., man is accused of having posed as a police officer for 25 years. Police say that for at least two and a half decades, Jim Bailey, 69, pretended to be a police officer.
“To be able to do that for 25 years and get away with it is kind of surprising, but, yeah, it’s completely wrong,” said Oak Harbor resident Mark Belcher told Q13FOX .
Police said Bailey’s life as a cop imposter came to an end Aug. 6. He saw a man and a woman fighting on the street in Oak Harbor and intervened. He yelled for someone to call 911 and tell them "an officer needs assistance.". When offciers arrived, they quickly discovered that Bailey was not an officer after all.
After a month-long investigation, Bailey was arrested and police found he had been posing as an officer, or a retired officer. They say he even placed ads in newspapers offering his professional services all over the state and everyone believed he was actually an officer.
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