Thursday, March 28, 2013

PRETEND-COP FACING 10 YEARS BEHIND BARS

If you’re going to play at being a cop, it’s not wise to have your wife and baby with you in your ‘cop’ car.

JOSE RODRIGUEZ-TRETO: BABY SEAT TIPPED OFF COPS THAT HE WASN’T A COP
By Richard Connelly

Houston Press Hair Balls
March 27, 2013

There's no bigger thrill, if you're one of these people who like to imitate cops, than to blast on the party lights and blow by some dweebs who have to pull over. (Well, we suppose a bigger thrill for these idiots would be pulling over a drunk, credulous woman with big cleavage, but we digress.)

One should make sure, of course, that the dweebs you are forcing to pull over in the face of your mighty pseudocop superpowers are not themselves police officers.

And if you are unlucky enough to force over a police car, you should definitely make sure that your vehicle does not clearly contain a car seat in the back, since such accoutrements are not normally found in in police cruisers.

AND....if you somehow manage to ignore such caveats, for the love of Christ at least be a citizen of the country in which you're so flagrantly breaking the law.

Such are the difficult lessons learned by one Jose Luis Rodriguez-Treto, 28, a Mexican citizen who ran into some trouble in January.

On Jan. 22, 2013, two Homeland Security Investigations agents were in their unmarked government car and pulling off a highway near Brownsville when things began getting odd.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston:

__Rodriguez-Treto was driving his black Ford Escape and activated flashing white lights similar to those used in law enforcement vehicles from behind the agents. Based on the flashing lights and the type of vehicle, the agents believed they were being pulled over by an unmarked police vehicle.

__However, rather than pulling them over, Rodriguez-Treto passed them with the vehicle still displaying flashing white lights in front and flashing red lights in the rear. As he passed, the agents noticed a car seat in the back seat and believed him not to be a law enforcement officer. In fact, they thought they were observing a pseudocop vehicle on its way to, or coming from, a crime.

They followed and pulled Rodriguez-Treto over. He was driving with his wife and infant child and among his haul was...

__...a loaded pistol magazine in his pocket, a pistol hidden in the glove box, a pistol hidden in the diaper bag, a rifle under the back seat, police scanners, a badge stating "special police," and other law enforcement paraphernalia.

He's not only the police, he's the special police.

Rodriguez-Treto will remain in custody until his sentencing, where he faces up to 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

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