The Scotts Valley Police Department on Friday released a photograph of a man who was arrested two weeks ago for impersonating a police officer in the hopes of flushing out victims of his alleged deception.
The Santa Cruz County Jail booking photo of Akira Kelcasy Kelly was withheld from the public after his Sept. 3 arrest because police had hoped to "preserve the integrity of possible photo line-ups" by not making Kelly's face well-known, Scotts Valley police said in a statement.
Since no one has called to report Kelly contacting them under the guise of an authority figure, police released the picture of 39-year-old Kelly, a Scotts Valley resident, hoping that the visual reminder will help some victims recall incidents of alleged impersonation.
After Scotts Valley police conducted a three-month investigation of Kelly, he was arrested early this month at his home in the 5500 block of Scotts Valley Drive just west of State Route 17, police said.
Kelly had managed to buy a white retired police car over the Internet, police said, and he then outfitted it with standard police items like a radar detector, police lights, a scanner, a siren and a loudspeaker system.
While executing a search warrant at Kelly's house, police also found a pair of black coveralls and a police jacket with law enforcement patches on them, police said.
Kelly had also procured a badge and a police duty belt that contained pepper spray, a baton, a set of handcuffs, a radio, and a replica firearm, police said.
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He was booked into the county jail for impersonating a police officer, exhibiting a fraudulent law enforcement badge, possessing stolen property, displaying a fraudulent license plate, and giving false information to a police officer, according to Scotts Valley police.
As of Friday, Kelly had been released on bail, police said.
Scotts Valley police are asking anyone who may have been stopped or contacted by Kelly, or who saw him impersonating a police officer in public, to call the police department at (831) 440-5670.
