Gov. Timmy! Appoints Police Impersonator to Board

Gov. Timmy! has appointed John Harper, Jr. to the Board of Trustees of the Virginia War Memorial Foundation.  Yes, THAT John Harper:

Former school board member charged with posing as officer

By DANIEL DREW
The Potomac News
Wednesday, March 17, 2004

A former auxiliary deputy with the Prince William County Sheriff’s Office was charged with impersonating a police officer in Richmond last week, when he tried using his badge to get into a basketball game, Richmond police said Wednesday.

John Harper Jr., 67, of 17968 Swans Creek Lane, just east of Dumfries, tried to get into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament on March 10 at the Richmond Coliseum, according to Christie Collins, a spokeswoman for the Richmond police.

Harper displayed a badge and said he was doing surveillance, Collins said. He is a former school board member from the Neabsco district who resigned in October of 1999 for health reasons. He also served as administrator of the Dale City Recreation Center.

He told a ticket-taker he was working for the FBI and was involved in an undercover operation inside the building, according to Larry Wilson, the coliseum’s general manager.

“Our ticket-taker found that odd,” Wilson said. The facility’s staff usually knows when law enforcement officers are conducting operations inside, according to Wilson.

The ticket-taker asked Harper to wait, and then contacted a supervisor. The supervisor, in turn, called Richmond police.

Harper said in a Wednesday telephone interview that the whole incident was a misunderstanding. He was wearing a hat that says: “FBI Washington Field Office Citizens Academy,” and flashed his badge at the door, he said.

“They asked if I was FBI and I said no. I’m a citizen academy liaison to the FBI,” Harper said, admitting that he tried to use his badge to get into a game.

When officials looked at Harper’s badge, they asked who the sheriff in Prince William County is. Harper said Glendell Hill, but his identification card — which expired Dec. 31, 2003 — said E. Lee Stoffregen III was sheriff.

Officers asked Harper a few questions and let him go into the arena, aware of where he was sitting, Wilson said.

In the meantime, police talked to Hill and learned Harper was not who he had claimed to be, according to Wilson.

“We let him in and we ended up looking for him later in the evening,” Wilson said.

None of the reserve and auxiliary deputies appointed during Stoffregen’s administration were reappointed by Hill. The all-volunteer deputies performed various functions in the office, including court security, community relations and data entry in computer systems.

Stoffregen sent a letter to the volunteers after he lost the November election to Hill, ordering them to return their equipment before Dec. 31. Hill took office on Jan. 1.

“They all received letters telling them that if they had equipment, it would be expired at the end of my term,” Stoffregen said. He said some people did not comply.

Harper said he was planning on turning his badge in to Hill on April 1, to give the new sheriff “time to get settled in.” He said he should have done it on Jan. 1.

“He’s always been a good supporter and a good friend and I’m sorry to hear of the circumstances he’s in,” said Stoffregen, who has known Harper since before he was elected to the school board.

Harper, who denied trying to get into the game for free, said officials at the coliseum’s entrance “asked for identification because I was trying to get in to the game with the badge.

“I guess I could have bought a ticket, but I didn’t,” he said. He called the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger back later to say he had purchased a tournament ticket book, but it hadn’t gotten to him in time.

I guess it would have looked funny had Gov. Timmy! appointed Harper to the Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice, the Board of Correctional Education or the Virginia Parole Board, though. I guess you have to give Timmy! credit for not being that stupid.  Quality pick there, Timmy!  Quality pick…