Peter Repoli
So, a guy walks into a pizzeria and says to the staff, “I’m a sheriff’s officer . . .” It sounds like the start of a bad joke, except it’s real life and the unfunny joke is on the guy, Peter Repoli, 54, of Nutley.
Last week, after a twoday trial in Newark, a jury convicted Repoli of impersonating an Essex County Sheriff’s officer, and he now faces up to 18 months in state prison, Acting County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced.
According to Murray’s office, Repoli went to Santini’s Pizzeria on Franklin Ave. in Nutley on Jan. 26, 2013, flashed a badge and told the workers he needed the address of someone he believed they knew. He threatened to arrest them if they did not provide it, and they said they would try to get the information by the next day.
Repoli returned the following day for the address. But when he left, the workers watched, and they saw him board a bus, not drive away in a sheriff’s car. They thought this a bit strange, so they Googled his name and discovered he had prior convictions.
Rightly believing that this, too, was strange, they alerted Nutley police, who subsequently arrested the “officer.”
On March 12, following the trial before Judge Martin G. Cronin in Superior Court, Newark, the jury found Repoli guilty of the impersonation.
“When someone flashes a badge and indicates he is an officer of the law, members of the public should able to rely on that representation,” said Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Pustay, who tried the case.
“Falsely presenting yourself as an officer is a serious offense and it is a crime taken seriously by this office.
For that reason, we will be seeking an 18-month sentence in New Jersey State prison, the maximum penalty,’’ Pustay said.
Sentencing is scheduled April 25 before Judge Cronin.
Murray’s office said Repoli has 10 prior convictions including robbery, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon and false imprisonment.
– Karen Zautyk
