SPRING HILL, Fla. — A Palm Harbor man faces multiple charges after deputies say he pretended to be a police officer from Buffalo and a U.S. Marshal.
The Hernando County Sheriff's Office says deputies got a call just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday about a suspicious person rummaging through a couple's golf cart at the Timber Pines Resident Activity Center in Spring Hill.
Deputies say when a man went to confront the person, later identified as 54-year-old James Mazurowski, Mazurowski was holding sunglasses and a cup holder that belonged to the man. The man reportedly told deputies Mazurowski showed him a silver badge and said he was a Buffalo police officer.
The man told deputies he continued to ask Mazurowski questions about why he was going through the golf cart and said Mazurowski showed him his badge again and said he "was searching for someone." Mazurowski then dropped the sunglasses, got into an SUV and drove away, according to the sheriff's office.
As Mazurowski left the parking lot, deputies say they were able to stop him. As they did, they say Mazurowski showed them the badge and said he was a U.S. Marshal and "needed to leave."
Deputies say they contacted someone at the Buffalo Police Department who told them Mazurowski wasn't a current member of the department's "special police officer" program – people who assist the department with community events.
Deputies say Mazurowski then told them he was driving a rental and was dropping it off to someone who lived in Timber Pines. Deputies say the man dropped his car off at a repair shop in Clearwater, and it was meant to be returned to him that day. And, the car wasn't supposed to be damaged, the man reportedly told deputies.
According to the sheriff's office, Mazurowski damaged the car while leaving the parking lot. And, some money was also missing from the car's center console, deputies say.
Mazurowski is charged with two counts of impersonating a police officer, burglary of a conveyance, resisting a law enforcement officer without violence and leaving the scene of an accident. His bond was initially set at $36,500, according to the sheriff's office.
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