Brandon Knapp of Center Moriches charged with impersonating FBI agent, imprisoning woman he met online
For the second straight day, law enforcement officers have arrested someone for allegedly pretending to be a federal officer on Long Island, police said Friday.
Suffolk County police said a Center Moriches man was arrested late Thursday and charged with impersonating an FBI agent — and, in that role, unlawfully imprisoning a woman he met online.
Brandon Knapp, 27, was charged with second-degree criminal impersonation and second-degree unlawful imprisonment, police said.
Knapp pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip, according to online court records. He was released with non-monetary conditions and a temporary order of protection against him. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 14.
Knapp's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
The arrest comes one day after an upstate man was arrested in Levittown while allegedly impersonating a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, only to have his alleged impersonation uncovered when he was spotted in a restaurant by a patron who was a real Customs Border Patrol officer.
Police said Knapp, claiming to be an FBI agent, "made contact" with a 28-year-old Suffolk County woman on social media who had posted that she believed an ex was having her followed. Police said one of her friends put her in touch with Knapp, saying he was an FBI agent.
Police said when the woman invited Knapp to meet her at a relative's home in Commack, he "convinced her he could take her to a safe house."
Police said that after the woman left around 3 p.m. with Knapp in a 2004 Mercedes-Benz, relatives became concerned and called the woman's cellphone. Relatives then contacted police, who began to track the woman's phone.
Police said the woman was dropped off at a restaurant in an undisclosed location, where she was met by Southampton Town police, who then took her to the Suffolk County police Seventh Precinct. Police said she was not injured.
An investigation by Fourth Squad detectives led to police identifying Knapp, and police said his Mercedes was located in Riverhead, where he surrendered to a Canine Section officer during a traffic stop on Whitebrook Drive at 10:11 p.m.
Police ask anyone with information to contact Fourth Squad detectives at 631-854-8451. All calls will remain confidential.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
