Crime & Safety

Police: Man Who Faked Death Arrested for Impersonating Cop

Raymond Roth accused of attempted kidnapping incident just hours after his plea deal last week.

Just hours after he cut a plea deal for faking his death at Jones Beach last July, Raymond Roth impersonated a police officer and attempted to kidnap a woman, Nassau County Police said.

Roth, 48, was arrested Wednesday in connection with a Freeport incident that happened on March 21 at 8 p.m., about five hours after he appeared in court to plead guilty in the fake death case.

Police say Roth, a former Massapequa resident now living in Long Beach, was behind the wheel of a white minivan that approached a woman who was walking near the intersection of Main Street and Church Street in Freeport.

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He allegedly shouted at her several times to get in the van. When she refused and kept walking he claimed to be a police officer and threatened to arrest her, police said.

The woman ran into a nearby check cashing store and Roth allegedly followed her and demanded security let him in.

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He again said he was a cop, police said. When employees called the real police he fled.

He was charged with Criminal Impersonation, Attempted Kidnapping, and Attempted Burglary 3rd Degree. 

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A police spokesman would not immediately comment on a report published in Newsday (paid site) that Roth was also being investigated in connection with a March 16 incident in which a man who identified himself as a cop demanded a woman get into a white, wood paneled van. 

It's the latest legal problem for Roth who had copped a plea that would have had him serve 90 days in jail for faking his death. He would also serve five days probation and make restitution to the Nassau County Police Department and United States Coast Guard.

At his court appearance last week, Judge Tammy Robbins told Roth the deal could be revoked if he were arrested again. A spokesman for the Nassau County District Attorney's office said the DA would not immediately comment on the case or if prosecutors will seek to revoke the plea agreement.

Roth's lawyer Brian Davis did not immediately return a call for comment.

Roth admitted in court that he executed a plan to fake his own death on July 28, drove his son Johnathan to the beach and told him to report Roth missing.

He then fled where he turned up a few days later. 

The case against Jonathan Roth is till pending. The son is no longer in contact with the father, but Davis said last week his client hoped that his guilty plea would keep his son out of jail.

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