Police arrested a local man last week after he reportedly fooled a group of hunters into thinking he was a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officer and stole their guns.
Zackary Harvey, 24, of Weedsport was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal impersonation, two counts of grand larceny and one count of criminal possession of stolen property, all felonies.
On September 9, DEC police out of Livingston County say they received a call from a hunter reporting a suspicious encounter.
The caller told police he and a group were on Howland Island hunting squirrels a few days prior.
During that time, a man approached the party claiming to be an undercover Environmental Conservation Police Officer.
The suspect then checked the group’s hunting licenses are firearms, took down their information and confiscated a .22 rifle before leaving the area, according to the DEC.
Later, the suspect emailed the hunters saying the firearm was unlawful, says the agency.
The group managed to take a short video of the suspect as he was leaving, which police used to positively identify the suspect as Harvey.
DEC Division of Law Enforcement was able to recover the stolen firearm and took Harvey into custody without incident, they report.
Harvey is currently at the Cayuga County Jail waiting for arriagnment. DEC says the investigation is ongoing.
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