‘It’s about time’: Woman says she warned deputies of man who impersonated police officers years ago

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A woman told Channel 9 she warned deputies years ago about a man who was impersonating police officers.

The woman, who wants to be called Jennifer, said she met Jeremy Dewitte online and went on a date with him in 2018.

The woman said it was her gut instinct that drove her to the Sheriff’s Office with her concerns in 2018. She said Dewitte’s most recent arrest makes her glad she did.

Dewitte was arrested Tuesday on a warrant that has ties to another arrest the Windermere Police Department made in September of 2019.

Read: Registered sex offender accused of impersonating officer twice pleads with judge, bonds out of jail

When Jennifer met Dewitte, she said he told her his name was Jay and that he was a cop.

“He told me he worked for the Oviedo Police Department and he was a security officer, and he worked for the Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office,” Jennifer said.

It was then Jennifer said she started to feel uneasy.

"I just dug a little deeper into who he was and I found out what his real name was. The first thing I saw was the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) sex offender search result.

An arrest affidavit shows Dewitte was charged in 2018 for failing to register as a sex offender.

Read: Registered sex offender accused of impersonating officer for third time

Jennifer said at the time, the information she gave law enforcement officers fell on deaf ears until Dewitte was arrested in September of 2019 for impersonating a police officer while he directed a funeral procession for Metro State Services.

Dewitte’s body camera video was then taken by police. Orange County deputies got a warrant to view it, and they found a secretly recorded conversation between himself and the State Attorney’s Office and was arrested again.

When asked what she thought about Dewitte’s arrest she said, “It’s about time.”

In the past, Dewitte said he’s being targeted by law enforcement.

Dewitte was released from the Orange County Jail Wednesday night.

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