{"id":67074,"date":"2025-12-10T19:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/67074\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T19:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:05:13","slug":"man-accused-of-posing-as-nypd-officer-on-staten-island-allegedly-claimed-he-was-fraud-investigator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/67074\/","title":{"rendered":"Man accused of posing as NYPD officer on Staten Island allegedly claimed he was fraud investigator"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A man accused of impersonating a police officer<\/a> during a 2023 car stop on Staten Island told arresting officers he was an investigator with special skills, authorities allege in newly-obtained court documents.<\/p>\n

Joel Lacrete, 42, of Rockland County, is due back in court Dec. 15 on charges that include criminal impersonation and criminal possession of a weapon. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney declined to comment Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The case meanwhile is finally moving forward after delays involving a mental health evaluation, records show. <\/p>\n

\"2023The defendant was pulled over in 2023 near Forest and South avenues in Mariners Harbor.(Google Maps0Allegedly claimed to investigate \u2018wire fraud\u2019<\/p>\n

The incident unfolded just before 5 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2023, near Forest and South avenues in Mariners Harbor, according to the criminal complaint. <\/p>\n

NYPD officers pulled over the defendant in a black 2021 BMW. The license plate allegedly had a plastic license plate cover, which is forbidden in New York.<\/p>\n

Police allege Lacrete, of E. Route 59 in Nanuet, falsely identified himself as an investigator with a government agency. According to court documents, he allegedly stated in part, \u201cI work with the department of investigation fraud investigation unit; I\u2019m the organizer. I investigate wire fraud. The department of investigation gives me cases, I handle a lot of the cases. I\u2019m part of the background. They come to me to investigate.\u201d <\/p>\n

A search of the defendant\u2019s vehicle revealed a police vest with his name printed on it, a fake badge in the center console, a police scanner and a spring-loaded switchblade, police allege.<\/p>\n

Following his arrest, the NYPD took to Twitter, formerly known as X, with photos of the items. <\/p>\n

Mental health exam, prior arrest<\/p>\n

Since the defendant\u2019s arrest, he was examined by mental health experts to determine if he was mentally fit to comprehend charges filed against him.<\/p>\n

At a Dec. 1 hearing, Justice Mario F. Mattei determined Lacrete was fit to proceed after hearing from experts and attorneys handling the case. <\/p>\n

The defendant has a prior conviction in Brooklyn for third-degree grand larceny, according to court documents. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A man accused of impersonating a police officer during a 2023 car stop on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-67074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}