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WILKES-BARRE — City police allege a Hanover Township man falsely identified himself as a police officer Monday night.
Police responded to the area of Willow Street and Gordon Avenue just before 9 p.m. on a report an off-duty police officer from “the police department by the square” claimed there were three men inside a vacant building, according to court records.
The person told responding officers he would wait under a street light in the area.
When officers arrived, they encountered Brian Toporcer, 32, who identified himself as a Forty Fort police officer, court records say.
Toporcer claimed he did not have his badge or any identification. Police noted in court records that handcuffs and a loaded .380-caliber handgun were found in Toporcer’s pockets.
Police asked Toporcer if he consumed alcohol, ingested illegal drugs, taking any prescription medications or suffers from a medical condition. Toporcer denied he drank alcohol, ingested drugs and does not suffer a medical condition or is prescribed medication, court records say.
Police confirmed Toporcer is not employed as a police officer in Wilkes-Barre and Forty Fort.
A wallet containing Toporcer’s identification card was found in a pocket, police said.
Police said the handgun was registered to Toporcer’s father.
Toporcer was arraigned Tuesday by District Judge Brian Tupper in Luzerne County Central Court on charges of firearms not to be carried without a license, possessing instruments of crime and impersonating a public servant. He was jailed at the county correctional facility for lack of $5,000 bail.