A Peoria man was arrested Tuesday after police say he stopped a man west of the city posing as a deputy from the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, took the person’s driver’s license and drove off while also in possession of a large amount of police paraphernalia.
Dennis Walker, 43, who also goes by the name Joshua Coats, was arrested Tuesday at a home in the 3000 block of West Trewyn Avenue after a man reported to the sheriff’s office that he was stopped by someone claiming to be a deputy on May 27.
According to the sheriff’s office, the man told them that he had been stopped by Walker in the 5800 block of West Plank Road west of Peoria on May 27, with Walker claiming to be a Peoria County deputy. The man told actual deputies that Walker had been driving a black Ford Explorer with red and blue flashing lights at the front of the vehicle.
However, the Explorer did not have any license plates on the front or rear, and Walker did not have any patches, nameplates or identifying insignia on his all-black uniform that he wore during the incident.
The man said that Walker told him that his driver’s license was suspended and proceeded to cut it in half, even though the license was still valid. He informed Walker that he planned to file a complaint to the sheriff’s office, but Walker drove off in the unmarked Explorer at a high rate of speed.
During an investigation, the sheriff’s office identified Walker as a suspect. A photo lineup was used to identify Walker as the man who was falsely identifying himself as a Peoria County sheriff’s deputy, and the sheriff’s office’s special investigations division began conducting surveillance outside his home.
On Tuesday, deputies confirmed Walker was living at the Trewyn Avenue home and also found he had an active warrant for aggravated domestic battery in Peoria County, as well as a prior conviction in Texas for impersonating a police officer.
With help from the U.S. Marshals’ Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, the sheriff’s office executed a warrant at the home and took Walker into custody on Tuesday. While they searched the house, they found an AR-15 rifle with a defaced serial number, a vest that resembled body armor normally used by law enforcement, a set of pants with attachments for law enforcement equipment, handcuffs, leg shackles, a realistic-looking pellet handgun and a pepper spray launcher.
Walker was charged with falsely impersonating a police officer, being in possession of a weapon as a felon, being in possession of a defaced firearm and for not having a valid FOID card. He is currently being held at the Peoria County Jail awaiting a first court appearance.
Anyone with further information on the case is asked to contact Detective JR Kester with the sheriff’s office at (309) 657-7072 or email him at JKester@peoriacounty.org.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria man accused of impersonating sheriff’s deputy with traffic stop
Reporting by Zach Roth, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
