A former Lynbrook resident staying a few nights at a New Jersey motel was jailed Friday after local police found scores of fake law enforcement identification cards and badges in his car, authorities said.
Scott Geddes' 2003 Ford Taurus even had many of the accoutrements of a real police car, from video camera to sirens, said South Hackensack Officer Lance Kelly, who made the arrest.
Geddes, 48, believed to be homeless, was held on $150,000 bail after being charged with impersonating an officer and possessing illegal weapons, including a handgun, blackjack club and knives, authorities said.
Geddes has served time in prison for grand larceny and weapons possession, and has had a prior conviction for criminal impersonation, records show.
In 1990, Geddes became chief of the troubled Rego Park Volunteer Ambulance Corps, after the Queens district attorney's office began investigating the corps on allegations of embezzlement by his predecessor.
Lynbrook Police Chief Joseph Neve said Geddes was charged in 1988 for having a police scanner and siren in his car, which also had red lights in the grill. He was arrested in 2004 on similar charges, Neve said.
It was not clear Friday if Geddes had an attorney. Attempts to reach his family were unsuccessful.
Kelly said he was responding to an accident Thursday morning when he noticed a Taurus parked at the Stagecoach Motel.
"It looked like an unmarked police car with New York plates," Kelly said.
When he asked the desk clerk whose car it was, she said she was suspicious of Geddes because he identified himself as a law enforcement officer but refused to provide a driver's license to sign for a room, the officer recounted.
When Kelly questioned Geddes, "he identified himself as a law enforcement officer and a lieutenant from the SPCA out of New York," the officer said.
Geddes was carrying a .357 Magnum revolver, Los Angeles police detective ID and NYPD detective ID and badge, Kelly said.
After Geddes consented to a search of the car, officers discovered a cache of fakes saying he was from the Secret Service or from various police departments across the nation, Kelly said.
"He had his car all hooked up with lights, and he had a camera to videotape stops," Kelly said. "He had strobes in the corner, red and blue flashers."
South Hackensack police plan to contact other law enforcement agencies about Geddes and expect additional charges to be filed.
Copyright 2014 Newsday
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
