Man impersonated cop to rob victims in Mansfield, Grand Prairie

Police are looking for a man who robbed three people while pretending to be an officer.

One case happened in Mansfield. The other case happened in Grand Prairie. The man was not wearing a badge, but told victims he was an officer.

Mansfield and Grand Prairie Police say this is a public safety concern especially since the impersonator used a gun in both cases to get what he wants.

Dan Collins said his 24-year-old son was robbed in their own driveway by a man claiming to be a cop on July 27 at 2:30 in the morning.

"The person came across the front lawn with his gun drawn pointed at him,” Collins said.

The police impersonator now wanted by the Mansfield and Grand Prairie police, told the victim he was checking out some burglaries in a Mansfield neighborhood and needed to see some identification.

"He didn't show any badge. He didn't show anything like that,” Collins said. “He just basically took him for his word and gave him his ID via the wallet. When the wallet was returned, the guy just turned and left."

Collins said his son thought it was a real detective. It wasn't until the a few hours later that he realized there was money missing from his wallet.

Two days later on July 29 in the 5200 block of River Lake Way in Grand Prairie, a second similar incident happened.

In the second case, the man approached a group of young couple, pointed a gun at them, told them he was an undercover officer from Mansfield and stole a wallet and cell phones. Police say before it was over, the man fired his gun into the air. According to one of the victims, the shot sounded more like a BB gun. Police say this is clearly not the way they operate.

"We would be in uniform, some type of uniform,” said Michael Midkiff with the Mansfield Police Department. “We'd have a badge displayed on our chest, especially on the left hand side"

And even a plain clothes officer or detective would have a badge where you could see it.

"Either they sometimes wear it around a chain type necklace and it's displayed in the middle of their chest or they wear it on their belt near their gun,” explained Midkiff.

And in cases where there is no threat and they're asking for ID, officers wouldn't approach you with their gun drawn.

“So now, we're a little bit careful. Lights are left on, and some security lights are being put in place,” said Collins. “The alarm is being used a lot more."

In both cases, there wasn't a good enough or specific enough description of the suspect, but police believe it's the same person.

You can always ask an officer for some ID and you can always call dispatch and ask if they have an officer in your area if you're not sure it was legitimate.