Lynchburg Police arrest man they say posed as an officer

Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: April 2, 2008

A Troutville man is in jail after police said he impersonated an officer and asked Wards Road businesses for security camera tapes Monday night.

Timothy Scott Frazier, 21, was arrested and charged with one count of possession of a stolen vehicle and two counts of impersonating a police officer, said Lt. Mark Jamison of the Lynchburg Police Department. He is being held in the Blue Ridge Regional Jail without bond.

Frazier is wanted on 13 other warrants out of Botetourt County and Roanoke City, and is being held for charges including breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, obtaining money by false pretenses, and grand larceny.

Frazier is accused of walking into two businesses shortly before 11 p.m. — the East Coast Service Station and a restaurant, both on Wards Road — and telling employees that he is a police officer investigating a bank robbery, Jamison said. He then asked for the security camera tapes.

“He said he was looking for a female that may have been involved in a bank robbery,” he said. “Something made the clerk and manager
suspicious.”

One of the businesses managed to get a license plate number off a sport utility vehicle he was driving, Jamison said. Police found that vehicle, along with Frazier, in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Items inside the car were “consistent with impersonating a police officer,” but the car was not — he was driving a stolen Isuzu sport utility vehicle, said Officer N.A. Leger, of the Lynchburg Police Department.

- If something seems suspicious with a person claiming to be a police officer, Lt. Mark Jamison said, check the person’s badge and police identification. If the person doesn’t have that identification, or still seems suspicious, call 911 immediately.