BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— FHP troopers arrested a 20-year-old North Carolina man for driving a car that resembled an FHP patrol vehicle.
Alexander Robert Thompson was arrested for fraud-impersonation on Oct. 30.
According to an arrest report, the Jacksonville Regional Communication Center issued a be-on-the-lookout for an unmarked black and tan FHP vehicle with a North Carolina tag traveling north on U.S. 301 near County Road 233.
“The BOLO vehicle was also reported to be tailgating traffic and traveling at a high rate of speed,” wrote arresting officer Cameron Bebee in the report.
The lawman added that he found the Dodge Charger and initiated a traffic stop with another trooper.
“While approaching the vehicle I observed it to be an old Florida Highway Patrol vehicle with a black and tan paint scheme,” he wrote. “There were no state trooper decals but there were chevron reflectors on the rear bumper of the car.”
Bebee added that lights were mounted in the rear and front windows of the vehicle. The charger was also equipped with a CB radio and radar detector.
Operating a vehicle with the FHP paint scheme is a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida. Bebee wrote that Thompson claimed he did not know the paint scheme was illegal and was in Florida for family reasons.
“Mr. Thompson advised me that he bought the vehicle at auction in the years prior and had the vehicle ‘detailed’ causing the black paint to come off and (making) the vehicle black and tan again,” he wrote. “Then he advised me he uses the interior lights that are amber and white in color only on construction sites in North Carolina for traffic control.”
Bebee added that while searching the vehicle, he found three firearms and a large amount of cash.
