In Youngtown, a suspect was detained after reportedly handcuffing and searching a man while posing as a police officer.
Deputies were called to a QuikTrip convenience store near 111th and Grand Avenues on August 21 in response to reports of a suspicious person in the neighbourhood, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
Once on the location, deputies spoke with a security firm who claimed to have seen the suspect two days earlier after their patrol car before witnessing him apprehend, handcuff, and search another man at a nearby Circle K.
The surveillance firm allegedly sent deputies video of the event, which showed the suspect approaching the victim and introducing himself as “Officer Harper with the State of Arizona,” according to court filings.
After being spotted by deputies, the suspect, 22-year-old Anthony Harper, allegedly told MCSO that he was a bail bondsman and that he was “operating within his authority to legitimately detail and search a victim.”
But according to the investigators, Harper lacked the required paperwork to hold someone legally in his capacity as a bail bondsman.
Harper was placed under arrest. He is charged with impersonating a peace officer and false imprisonment.
