Customer nightmare of the week: All the perks, no authority
After pulling over two motorcycles for speeding, a policeman in an unmarked vehicle pulled into Fricker's Restaurant in Clearcreek Township, Ohio, to grab a bite. The manager of the place adhered to his policy of feeding any cop in uniform for free, an age-old industry strategy for scaring off criminals.
The officer didn’t realize that two fellow patrons were off-duty cops who didn’t recognize the man, his uniform or his vehicle. They alerted management and helped give the freeloader the heave-ho, but didn’t mention the ruse back at the stationhouse. Only later did they learn the patron, 25-year-old Cody James Burton, was a serial impersonator who dressed up as a cop, right down to a tailored unofficial uniform, a gun and holster and detachable flashing lights for the roof of his truck.
Burton turned himself into authorities after a manhunt continued for several days, explaining that he pretended to be a cop in hopes of meeting girls. The real police did not reveal the name of the restaurant that Burton had conned.