Impersonating a police officer is an enormous crime and rarely a wise move, as Akron man Allen Grier found out for himself. Grier had been a wanted fugitive for stealing materials from Tractor Supply Co. when police asked him to identify himself and tell them what he was doing on Whipple Avenue at nearly eight o’clock at night.
Grier had been waiting for an accomplice and tried desperately to avoid being identified by the police. According to reports, he told officers he was an FBI agent operating undercover, supplying them a false birthdate and a false name. When the officers looked up the name and found that it was not real, Grier then told them he was actually an Akron narcotics officer. This claim, too, was found to be false.
Grier, 43, was quickly apprehended after officers searched his vehicle and found the materials and merchandise that had been stolen from Tractor Supply Co. According to police records, Grier has a long rap sheet of previous crimes, including felony theft charges and receiving stolen property. Records refer to Grier as “dangerous and possibly armed,” although there is no previous record of Grier impersonating a law officer.
After his false identities were revealed, Grier was jailed for multiple charges, including impersonating a police officer and obstructing official business, in addition to charges of petty theft and evidence tampering. Indeed, had Grier simply been forthright with the officers upon being approached near the Tractor Supply Co. on Whipple Avenue, chance are his number of charge3s would have been cut in half.
According to the Ohio Department of Corrections, Grier had been released from a previous stint in jail at the beginning of September. Given Grier’s history of trafficking in stolen goods, and his apparent disregard for being reformed, it is likely that prosecutors will throw the book at him and send him right back to prison when his case goes to trial. The added charges regarding his impersonation of both a federal and local law enforcement official – one right after the other – will not do him any favors in the eyes of the judge and jury.