Law enforcement officers are continuing to search for a motorist who allegedly posed as a fake cop last week along W.Va. Route 2 in Marshall County, according to Marshall County Sheriff Bill Helms.
Helms said today no reports of a second sighting have been received by his department.
“There has been a great amount of interest and we have received a lot of calls from people who are willing to help us,” the Marshall County sheriff said. “But no one has reported seeing the vehicle that the juvenile female described to us a week ago. We thought we had something in Ohio County, but we found that the report there was not connected to the incident on the highway.
“We have found this report to be credible and the news has spread like wildfire because a report like this is taken very seriously,” Helms said. “As I said the other day, and it is speculation on my part, but it sure seems to me that this young lady was targeted as if this is connected to human trafficking. But since the car did have Florida plates, maybe this male traveled out of this area after this unsuccessful attempt. We may never know.”
The female juvenile told Marshall County deputies one week ago that she was pulled over by a Hispanic male wearing a fake police badge. The man was driving a white, four-door sedan with Florida plates with a red, bubble light on his front dashboard when he pulled the high school student over at 12:30 p.m. on December 1 in an area near Benwood. After the man claimed she was traveling at an excessive speed, he asked her age. The juvenile female told the deputies that is when she closed her window, picked up her phone, and then drove away.
Helms said the female described the vehicle as a white unmarked car that was a four-door sedan with very dark windows. Helms said the JM student said she saw the red bubble light on the front dash. The man, Helms repeated, was between 35 and 40 years old, had a strong, Hispanic accent, and was wearing dark blue jeans, a black button-up shirt, and a fake police badge around his neck.
All local law enforcement agencies have been notified of the report and the description of the Hispanic male and his vehicle, and Helms is hopeful the individual will be located soon.
“The post we put up on our Facebook page was shared more than 600 times earlier this week, so we know people are concerned,” Helms said. “We know the word is out there and hopefully other media outlets will help spread the word, too, so everyone knows to be careful out there.
“As far as getting pulled over by law enforcement in the future, any police officer or deputy who is monitoring traffic along the (W.Va. Route 2) highway is going to be in full uniform, and they will not have a red bubble light in their front window,” he said. “That may be popular with people who are volunteer firefighters, but those lights are not with law enforcement in the valley.”
