Navarre girl stopped by imposter cop

A local teenager was unharmed after a brief run-in with a man posing as a police officer Dec. 2 in Navarre.

Emilee Pello, 16, was turning left onto U.S Highway 98 from Sunrise Drive - the main entrance of Holley by the Sea - at 6:45 p.m. Dec. 2, when she saw blue lights flashing behind her. Believing it to be a police officer, she pulled off to the left into a neighborhood and stopped.

The car with blue lights pulled off behind her and then turned off the blue lights.

When the man approached Pello’s vehicle, she asked him what she did to be pulled over. According to Emilee’s mom Dee Pello, the man said, “You didn't do anything wrong. Just step out of the car.”

Emilee told the man that she didn’t feel comfortable getting out of the car. She told him she was going to drive to a lighted area first, but he told her to have a nice day and got in his car and left.

“Something told me that something wasn't right,” Emilee said.

The man was not wearing a uniform and didn’t show his identification, she said.

Emilee called 911 only to find out it wasn’t a cop that pulled her over. She was told by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office that he would get the word out to others.

According to the incident report taken later that evening, the vehicle that stopped Pello was an older, dark SUV without police insignia. The male suspect was a white male, 6-foot tall in his mid-30s. Emilee described him as clean cut and in good physical condition.

The sheriff’s office has no further information on the imposter at this time. If drivers feel uncomforatable about pulling over, Sheriff Wendell Hall said drivers should put on their emergency lights and wait until they reach a well-lit area to pull over. He said all his patrol vehicles are clearly marked with insignia and lights. If a vehicle is unmarked or only has one light, Hall recommends only pulling over in a populated, lit place. Drivers should roll down their window slightly and ask for the officer's badge and identification card before handing over your license or registration.

"If you feel threatened you can call 911 and ask to speak to us and we'll know if it's one of our cars," Hall said. 

In January of this year, an Escambia County woman told deputies there that she was sexually battered by a man who was impersonating a police officer. The victim told deputies that the “officer” would take her to jail if she didn’t comply with his sexual demands.

That man, along with another police officer impersonator, who in 2009 targeted women in the area were never identified or arrested.