At approximately 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 10-21-09, a citizen reported that he was pulled over by a burgundy colored Crown Victoria with red and blue lights in the windshield in the area of CR35 and SE 28th Street. He described the "officer" as being a white male, 5'10", "with a tummy", approximately 45-55 years of age with a goatee wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt. The citizen was told he was pulled over due to faulty taillights. The "officer" then searched the man’s vehicle and showed the driver two bags of white powder he claimed to find in his car. He was then handcuffed and placed into the back seat which did consist of a cage like a marked patrol car. After a few minutes, two other cars pulled up behind them. The headlights on one of the two cars were consistent with a Crown Victoria but did not display any red or blue lights. The citizen was then taken out of the car and released.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office, nor the Ocala Police Dept. or Florida Highway Patrol have any burgundy colored Crown Victorias with a cage inside. The Sheriff’s Office Communications Center had no record of any traffic stops being conducted at that location at that time.

On Thursday evening, 10-22-09, OPD received a report from a female who said she was stopped in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Silver Springs by a person in an SUV that had flashing blue lights near the headlights. The description of the "officer" was similar to the first incident. The "officer" asked the woman strange questions, took her license back to his vehicle but then returned it to her and released her.

The Sheriff’s Office encourages citizen to be aware of their surrounding and of suspicious vehicles in the Silver Springs and Baseline corridor. If you are pulled over by an unmarked vehicle and are not sure if it is an official law enforcement officer, citizens can call 911 and verify an officer’s location for their safety.