King Park man had illegal police badge, AR-15s, Suffolk cops say

Police who arrested a man in a hotel parking lot on charges of impersonating a police officer later found two illegal AR-15 semi-automatic rifles and an unlicensed .38-caliber revolver at his Kings Park home, officials said.

Suffolk County police said Justin Conte, 43, also had three legal handguns and a legal 12-gauge shotgun in his home on Bristol Lane — a total of seven firearms. Police said officers “went to safeguard the weapons” at Conte’s home after his arrest, when it was discovered he had a valid pistol permit with three weapons.

Two plainclothes officers had approached Conte shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday as he sat in a 2014 Hyundai Tucson in the rear parking lot of the Clarion Hotel on Veterans Memorial Highway in Ronkonkoma, police said.

Smoke coming from the car turned out to be marijuana smoke, and Conte was wearing a police badge, which he admitted was fake, police said.

Officers also found an expandable baton and a fake police chief placard that was in plain sight, police said.

Conte was scheduled for arraignment Saturday in First District Court in Central Islip on charges of criminal impersonation, criminal possession of marijuana, and several weapons charges, police said.