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Baltimore County Police Seek Possible Victims Of Police Impersonator

PARKVILLE, Md. (WJZ) -- Baltimore County Police catch a man posing as an officer in a phony police cruiser. And now, they want to know who else he may have fooled.

Kai Jackson has more on the local police impersonator.

Baltimore County Police say they're trying to determine the extent of the suspect's actions as a police impersonator.

The Baltimore County man, 59-year-old Derek Propalis, had been impersonating a cop. He was arrested in January when a county officer encountered Propalis.

The officer became suspicious when Propalis got out of this phony police car wearing a police uniform.

"The man gets out of the car wearing a Virginia state trooper's uniform," Elise Armacost, spokeswoman for the Baltimore County Police Department, said. "The car is equipped with lights and siren, a video monitoring system and other police equipment."

Propalis was charged with impersonating a police officer. He's currently on home detention. He lives in this house in the 2900-block of Garnet Road in Parkville.

WJZ knocked on the door but there was no answer.

One neighbor who declined to go on camera tells WJZ that Propalis has lived on this street for years and has always been nice, even helpful. That same neighbor says that the CrownVictoria in question -- and a similar car like it -- led them to believe that something about Propalis wasn't quite right.

Police say a search of Propalis' house turned up patches for Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Maryland State and Virginia State Police. In all, seven police patches were found, as were police uniforms and equipment from across the country.

Police don't know if Propalis made illegal traffic stops or interacted with the public as a fake cop, but they hope to find out.

"We suspect that he perhaps may have," Armacost said.

At this point, it is unclear if other jurisdictions are investigating the suspect for impersonating a police officer.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020. 

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