A day at a popular Westchester County amusement park took a strange turn, police say, when a man began presenting himself as a federal agent. Authorities have now charged him with criminal impersonation, capping an episode that unraveled once officers began asking questions at Rye Playland.
According to police, the man, identified as 47-year-old John Fiore, was accused of pretending to be an FBI agent at the park. To lend weight to the act, authorities said, he showed off a fake FBI badge to those around him, presenting himself as the real thing.
Fiore's claims went well beyond simply flashing a badge, police said. According to authorities, he told people that he and his dog had been shot in the line of duty, weaving a dramatic story to go along with the phony credentials he was carrying.
Officers, however, were not convinced. Police said their investigation found no evidence to back up any of Fiore's claims, and the account he had presented quickly fell apart once investigators began to look into it.
The episode took an almost comic turn as it came to an end. According to police, as officers escorted Fiore away, he even tried to kick the fake badge out of sight, in what appeared to be an attempt to distance himself from the very prop at the center of the case.
Fiore is now charged with criminal impersonation, according to authorities, and is due to appear in court next week. Police pointed to the case as an example of claims that did not hold up once real officers started asking questions.