Man impersonates police officer after breaking into police academy
SANTA FE NM December 31 2019– Impersonating a peace officer never looked quite like this.
Last month, a New Mexico State Police officer assigned to supervise recruits at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy in Santa Fe was sleeping in his dorm room on campus when he was awakened by the sound of the door to his room opening and someone entering.
According to a criminal complaint, a man entered the officer’s room at 1:22 a.m. Nov. 13. Startled by the intrusion, the officer first told the man to get out but then got out of bed to see who it was.
The mystery man identified himself as “Lt. Vigil” – the same rank and surname of an officer assigned to the law enforcement academy – and told the officer to go back to sleep.
“Officer Moya stated he did not recognize the male subject and knew he was not authorized to be on the facility. Officer Moya restrained the male subject by placing the male subject’s hands behind his back and requesting assistance from the recruits in the dorm rooms,” according to the complaint.
The man, later identified as 42-year-old Phillip Martinez of Santa Fe, resisted handcuffs and failed to follow Moya’s commands. Martinez, who told officers his name was “Mike,” continued to be uncooperative during questioning “by continuing to change the subject and talk about random things, unrelated to this incident,” according to the complaint.
Meanwhile, Officer Moya, whose first name was not included in the report, noticed that Martinez “had several bottles of NyQuil on his person.”
The bottles were evidently taken from a plastic tub on the floor near the doorway of the dorm room, the complaint states.
Asked for an explanation for the tub with NyQuil, State Police spokesman Lt. Mark Soriano said via email: “Medicine is kept in the duty sergeant’s room. Recruits must ask to receive their medication so it can be controlled.”
While searching Martinez for weapons, officers also found he was in possession of a black leather “under belt” – the same kind of belt used by law enforcement officers.
Asked how he got into the facility, Martinez allegedly told police that he had crawled under the gate.
By this time, Martinez had accumulated charges of criminal trespass, burglary, larceny, concealing his identify, obstructing an officer and impersonating an officer. He picked up one more count after he was transported to the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center.
While being treated for a foot wound by a nurse at the jail, the complaint states, Martinez stood up and exposed himself to the nurse. That got him charged with aggravated indecent exposure.
Online jail records showed that Martinez was still in jail,being held without bail.
Albuquerque Journal |
