[Scan-DC] Phony cops w/NYPD radios get nabbed

Alan Henney alan at henney.com
Sun Oct 2 00:15:56 EDT 2016


Daily News (New York)

NEWS; Pg. 14

Phony cops get nabbed

BY THOMAS TRACY and GRAHAM RAYMAN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
October 1, 2016 Saturday 
   SPORTS FINAL EDITION

A RIP-OFF CREW that carried out a robbery spree dressed as police in the Bronx and Queens and used NYPD radio frequencies to make threats against cops has been caught, police said.

The transmissions, which started in April, included threats to shoot cops and detonate pressure cooker bombs, officials said. They also included fake officer-in-distress calls and fake gun reports.

Ricardo Torres, 29, Kevin Remache, 19, and Jay Peralta, 20, were busted for the September robbery spree, in which they prowled the streets and pulled people over under the pretense of being cops, then grabbed their cash and took off.

They used police-style radios, flashlights, vests, uniforms and shields in the robberies.

In the end, though, despite the complexity of their scheme, all they got was a few hundred dollars and a ride to jail.

Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter Terrorism John Miller said the unauthorized radio transmissions began one weekend in April with mysterious threats to a captain stationed in Times Square.

"Someone called up a duty captain over the radio," he said. "The dispatcher put the duty captain on and several death threats were made over the police frequencies."

Investigators looked at the captain's background for clues about who might have called him, and found nothing.

Later, there was a bomb threat and a call for cops to come to a Walgreens drug store in Times Square.

"In the course of the investigation, we identified two of the suspects as people who had worked at that Walgreens and were present on the scene watching some of the mayhem they were trying to create occurring below," he said.

After committing six robberies over a 16-day period, the crew was finally caught when they did one robbery too many.

On Sept. 25, at about 12:25 a.m., cops responded to a robbery at 35th Ave. and Crescent St. in Astoria.

The 39-year-old victim told cops he was pulled over by three men carrying radios and wearing vests.

The men shined a flashlight in his face and said they were from the Taxi and Limosine Commission.

They then grabbed $60 in cash and a Samsung Galaxy cell phone from the victim and took off.

Armed with a description, cops found the van a few blocks away.

Officers Christina McDonald and Dwight Wander spotted Torres and closed in. They caught him with two radios capable of transmitting over police frequencies and a flashlight inscribed with the word "Police."

During a raid of Torres' home, cops found 15 portable radios, nine scanners, nine hand-held microphones, two roof antennas and a range of other equipment used by the crew.

Cops with the Internal Affairs Bureau later linked Remache and Peralta to the ring. Peralta was identified as the person making the threats against police.

Torres was charged with possession of burglary tools, robbery and criminal impersonation.

Remache and Peralta were charged with criminal impersonation and robbery. They were also charged with arson for torching car on Aug. 8.

Peralta was hit with additional charges of making terroristic threats and aggravated harassment for the series of threats.


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