Fake Officer Threatens Arrest Over Free Periodical

A Norwalk woman was charged with impersonating a police officer Sunday after reportedly flashing a fake badge and warning a fellow traveler at the Darien Metro-North Station that she wasn't allowed to take more than one copy of a free publication.

The apparent fraud came to light around 8:37 a.m., when a 60-year-old Bridgeport woman approached a genuine Darien Police officer on patrol at the station and asked if she was allowed to take more than one issue of the Fairfield County Weekly, a free periodical, out of the metal box at the station.

When the officer replied that—yes—she was allowed to take as many as she liked, the woman told him that a self-identified undercover officer on the opposite platform—later identified as Rosemary Carroll, 58—had warned her under threat of arrest not to take more than one edition.

She said that Carroll had also flashed a badge in a brown wallet and alerted her that she would call for backup unless the woman returned all but one of the issues.

Realizing that there were no female undercover officers on shift at the time, police had the Bridgeport woman point out Carroll. After driving to the New York-bound platform, the officer approached the "officer" and began to interview her.

At first, police said, Carroll denied that she had confronted the woman and said she didn't have any type of badge on her. But when she consented to a search of her bag, police discovered a Darien Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary badge tucked into a brown wallet.

After telling the officer she had forgotten she had it with her, Carroll eventually admitted to having flashed the badge and threatened to contact additional officers. She was subsequently arrested and released on a promise to appear in court Aug. 26.

When police later contacted DFD Chief Rick Weatherstone, they learned that Carroll had been expected to turn in her Ladies Auxiliary badge when she left the group about a year and a half ago, but that she clearly hadn't.