ST. CLOUD, Fla. — A man tried to lure women into his SUV by pretending to be a police officer outside a St. Cloud restaurant, authorities said.
Ramy Nashaat-Yousef Hanna, 34, was arrested Tuesday on charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer, police said.
Investigators said they received a 911 call about a man in an SUV was following two women outside a Crabby Bill’s restaurant on Lakeshore Boulevard at about 11 p.m. The man shined a flashlight on the women and asked them for their licenses, police said.
Authorities said Hanna told the women that they could live with him if they were homeless. The women ran under a pier at Lake Front Park, but Hanna followed them, authorities said.
Police said Hanna tried to convince the women to get into his SUV and leave with him, but the women refused and asked Hanna for identification.
Hanna said no, and told the women he was an undercover officer, police said.
Police said when they arrested Hanna, they found four large rolls of plastic painter's drop cloths, a pair of shoe guards and a clear plastic poncho in the back seat.
“There was no reason for that equipment to be in his vehicle. That’s just our opinion, and we found his behavior and the totality of the circumstances, impersonating a police officer and things,that did not add up,” St. Cloud police spokeswoman Denise Roberts said.
A woman told Channel 9’s Jeff Levkulich that Hanna approached her a couple of weeks ago and said that he was an undercover cop.
“Oh, God. Creeper, creeper creeper, creeper. See, I have the chills already,” Misty Hopkins told Eyewitness News.
Hopkins said she was in a parking lot, not far from where Tuesday night’s incident occurred in the park.
Hanna is also charged with stalking. He posted bail late Thursday nightHe was taken to the Osceola County Jail, where he is being held on $3,500 bail.