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Ex-convict accused of impersonating an officer, again

BY MATTHEW CHAYES | matthew.chayes@newsday.com

9:30 PM EDT, August 23, 2008

Patrick Jabbour of Deer Park was charged with impersonating a police officer and possessing a weapon. (August 23, 2008)

He's back!

Back, authorities say, impersonating the cops -- this time, to try to get ahead at the DMV.

Ex-convict Patrick Jabbour had already done prison time for burglary, robbery and impersonating a police officer, according to records.

Now, for the second time this summer -- and at least the third time in his life -- Jabbour, 39, of Deer Park, is locked up on charges of trying to pass himself off as a law enforcement agent, State Police said Saturday.

Jabbour was nabbed Friday at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Bethpage, police said. Earlier, he had flashed a phony shield at the Massapequa DMV to try to cut in line, said Investigator Gary W. Bedell of the State Police in Valley Stream.

The arrest came days after Jabbour told a fellow motorist on the Meadowbrook State Parkway to pull over, honking and flashing his lights. "I am a police officer!" Jabbour told the other driver, according to State Police.

Though Jabbour was driving a Ford Crown Victoria -- the vehicle of choice for legitimate state troopers -- the other motorist was so suspicious he called 911 and fled, Bedell said.

Using a description of the disheveled, long-haired, tattooed Jabbour that the motorist provided, investigators tracked him down at the DMV, where DMV officials are also investigating him for helping "customers with their DMV transactions," police said.

Bedell said he could not elaborate on what help Jabbour purportedly offered and/or gave.

When eventually confronted by the real police, Jabbour demurred, police said.

"He came up with 900 different lies," Bedell said.

Jabbour said he worked for the inspector general.

Untrue.

He said he was a bail bondsman.

Untrue.

Truth is, Jabbour, of 183 Commack Rd., faces charges of felony criminal impersonation and possession of a weapon in connection with a gravity knife he had, Bedell said. He was to be arraigned at First District Court in Nassau this weekend.

Jabbour was already out on bail after a July arrest on an impersonation charge. In that case, Suffolk police stopped him driving a red convertible in Brentwood. A shield dangled from his neck, and he claimed to work for a government bail agency.

That agency is fake, but the handcuffs that have locked him up again were real.