A Texas man dressed up as a police officer to enter a home to rob the people inside before he was later taken into custody, authorities said.
Salvatore Alfieri IV, 38, arrived to the home in Bexar County with a handgun, wearing a “police” vest, ski mask, and law enforcement insignia on Sunday evening when he persuaded someone inside he was a San Antonio police officer, the Bexar County Sheriff’s announced. He demanded entry into the home, saying he worked for “probation” and needed to search for “contraband,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said during a news conference.
UPDATE: Salvatore Alfieri IV, 38, is now in custody, as of around 12:20 p.m. Sunday. https://t.co/PNU5UHuYMh
— KSAT 12 (@ksatnews) May 22, 2022
The victim was a woman and her teenage kid. Alfieri allegedly snatched the phones so they couldn’t contact anyone and stole thousands of dollars in cash and some particular items. “He knew just enough about the male that was not there at that time to give the female a convincing story on why he was there,” Salazar said. “He was confident. He was comfortable with where he was at and what he was doing.”
Investigators believe Alfieri was “desperate for money” and that it was not his first time robbing someone.
Authorities say that the robber rented a car through an app and drove it to the home. The car has been returned to its owner. Later the sheriff announced the app he used was the app called “Turo”.
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“What led us to him was that he was using a vehicle that he had rented through an app call Turo,” Salazar said, the San Antonio Express-News reported. “He rented a car from an individual and by the look of it he used it just for this, so he didn’t have to use his own vehicle. But we were able to track him down fairly easily.”
Salvatore Alfieri IV, 28, was arrested for impersonating a public servant, burglary of a habitation with intent to commit felony, unlawful restraint, and interference of emergency request for assistance, according to a Bexar County Sheriff’s Office post. https://t.co/mOLNH63fdC
— KAMC News (@KAMCNews) May 22, 2022
No one in the home was harmed, authorities said. Alfieri has been charged with impersonating a public servant, burglary, unlawful restraint, and interference with an emergency phone call.