Melbourne, FL - Behavior Problem Teen Swipes Cop Car - Impersonates Officer - Makes Traffic Stop

March 28, 2007

Police: Teen swipes cop car, makes traffic stop


FLORIDA TODAY

A 17-year-old wearing a Melbourne Police Explorer shirt scaled the walls of the Apollo Boulevard police station Monday night, grabbed a set of cruiser keys and made a traffic stop before he was nabbed, police said.

“He got in here and somehow took one of our cars,” Commander Jim Gibbens said today.

Ramon Perez, an explorer for three years, was charged with impersonating an officer, unlawful use of a police badge, burglary of a structure, unauthorized police radio transmissions and grand theft.

He was dismissed last July because he was starting to exhibit behavior problems, ignore chain of command and threw firecrackers at some people, Gibbens said. "That's a criminal activity," he said.

According to reports, a Melbourne officer was on patrol around Sarno and Croton roads Monday night when he saw another police vehicle with the emergency lights flashing. The officer didn’t recognize the officer making the stop, so he called dispatch.

Dispatch told him nobody had called in a traffic stop in the area so the officer followed the cruiser back to the Melbourne police station on Apollo Boulevard and pulled Perez out of the cruiser wearing an Explorer shirt.

The person who had been stopped drove off, Gibbens said.

Perez told the officer he had scaled the brick wall of the police station, entered through the adult booking room, found a set of keys and stole a marked patrol car. He also had a police vest and radio with him.

Perez is familiar with police operations from being an Explorer for three years.

"We still have a whole bunch of unanswered questions," Gibbens said.

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