Deer Park teen accused of impersonating police officer

An 18-year-old Deer Park man has been arrested after Suffolk police said he pretended to be a cop three times in September so he could question a couple amid a domestic dispute.

Police said the impersonation in this case started after an unidentified married couple from Commack Road in Dix Hills had an argument, and the wife told her friend about it. The friend, also not named by police, told the woman that her daughter's boyfriend, Max Sapirman, was a Suffolk County police officer and would handle the "domestic incident."

The wife's friend then called Sapirman, and he responded to the couple's home Sept. 15, then again at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 16. Both times, Sapirman ordered the husband to leave the home for the night, police said.

Then, on Sept. 20, Sapirman contacted the wife to question the couple again, but didn't ask the husband to leave. Each time he went to the home, Sapirman asked the wife if she wanted her husband arrested -- each time she said no.

The wife learned Tuesday that Sapirman wasn't a cop, and called police. After an investigation, Sapirman was arrested at his house at 19 Milleridge Drive about 8 p.m. Thursday, police said.

At his home, police found a T-shirt, baseball hat and a long-sleeved shirt emblazoned with the Suffolk County Police Department's patch and insignia -- clothing that's not standard issue for Suffolk officers, the department said.

Sapirman was charged with three counts of second-degree criminal impersonation, a misdemeanor. He was being held overnight at the Second Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Friday.

Police said the investigation is continuing, and said people who may have been contacted by Sapirman could contact the Second Squad at 631-854-8252.