Capital Region Man Attempts to Impersonate a Sheriff, and It Goes Horribly

If you tell someone that you're from the Sheriff's Office, and you show them a badge, won't they believe you are who you say you are?

The answer to that question, thankfully, is no.

A Fulton County, New York man found this out the hard way last week, as his attempt to impersonate a Sheriff's Office employee went horribly wrong. Ironically, his actions did get the actual police involved.

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Capital Region Man Arrested for Impersonating a Sheriff's Office Employee

According to a report from ABC News 10 in Albany on Saturday, 62-year old Joseph Passino was arrested for illegally impersonating an employee of the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.

Passino, who works for the Town of Perth as a Dog Control Officer, attempted to interview a resident of Perth for unknown reasons. In order to gain access to the person's property, Passino presented the person with a badge, and identified himself as an employee of the Sheriff's Office, something he has never been.

The Fulton County Sheriff Department posted about the arrest below:

Passino was arrested on felony impersonation charges on Wednesday, and is scheduled to appear in court in Perth in the near future.

This is an extremely bizarre story, plain and simple. It was explained by News 10 that Passino was on-duty as a Dog Control Officer at the time of his attempted impersonation. So, he went from working, to impersonating a Sheriff's Office employee, and then returned to his normal shift?

At some point, someone was bound to notice what had happened. Even if they didn't notice right away, people talk to one another, and your ruse is bound to be discovered sooner, rather than later.

It was a flawed plot from the beginning, and in the end, the true Sheriff's Office employees acted swiftly to rectify the situation.