Lehigh Acres man arrested for Impersonating Law Enforcement Officer (Using Fake Police Lights)

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - $8 strobe lights from a Halloween display at Wal-Mart lands one Lehigh 18-year-old in trouble with the law.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office says that man, Alberto Alvarez, put the lights on the dashboard of a White Dodge Charger in an attempt to pull people over in the area of State Road 82 in Lehigh.

A friend of Alvarez, who claims to have been in the car with him, tells WINK News the lights were purchased as a joke. He also told us, they didn't think using the red and blue covered strobe lights was against the law.

One driver they allegedly used the lights on didn't think it was funny.

"We passed a White Dodge Charger that had its headlights off, as soon as we passed it, it flipped the head lights on and immediately pulled out and sped up to us just like we were getting pulled over," said the driver who asked we not identify him.

He says the Charger looked like an undercover car often used by traffic deputies, so he pulled over.

"As soon as we pulled off the road, they turned off the lights and they just drove right passed us and turned off the road on some side street driving completely erratically," explained the driver, "I was a 100 percent positive it wasn't a police officer."

His passenger called the Sheriff's Office to report the car.

"To us, it wasn't a joke, they could have pulled us off the road and who knows," said the driver, "You want to feel safe when you're getting pulled over, plain clothes officers...it's hard enough to tell. There's a reason it's illegal."

When we told him where the one of the men in the Charger claimed to buy the lights, he said, "It's ridiculous, it's way too easy to get a hold of them."

Not only was it not funny, but against the law.

Deputies tracked down the Charger and Alvarez and arrested him on charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer and the unlawful use of blue lights.

According to jail records, he bonded out of jail Monday morning.

This is the first time he's been arrested in Lee County.

WINK News tried to contact Alvarez for his side of the story, but no one answered the door at his home and our phone calls were not returned.

WINK News. "Lehigh Acres man arrested for Impersonating Law Enforcement Officer" winknews.com [updated Oct 6, 2008; cited Oct 6, 2008]. Available from
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