Man charged with posing as police officer, molesting woman

A 29-year-old Tampa man posed as an off-duty police officer, lured a woman into his 2006 Suzuki SUV and touched her inappropriately, police said.

The incident began Tuesday after the man, Bruno Felipe Alejos, spotted the 19-year-old woman and her boyfriend arguing at Rome and Waters avenues, police said.

Alejos stopped his SUV and told the couple he was an off-duty officer who wanted to give the woman a safe ride home and question her about her boyfriend, police said.

The boyfriend questioned whether Alejos was an officer, but Alejos threatened to arrest the boyfriend and also said he wasn't allowed to carry a badge while he was off-duty, police said. The woman, who Alejos didn't know, got in his SUV.

Alejos said he needed to make a withdrawal from a bank, and they rode to Bank of America, 10050 N. Florida Ave., where Alejos was captured on video about 1 a.m. Tuesday, police said.

He told the woman he would take her home, but he drove past it and parked in a CVS parking lot at 9202 N. Florida Ave., where he committed a sexual act on her, police said.

Alejos was wearing a seat belt, and the victim wasn't, so she was able to escape, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. The victim hid in bushes for a few minutes before calling 911 at 1:14 a.m. Tuesday.

Bank surveillance video led detectives to Alejos and his vehicle. The woman identified him through a photo pack.

"When interviewed, the suspect changed his story numerous times before eventually admitting that he went too far," a Tampa Police Department news release states.

Police arrested Alejos at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at 6200 Courtney Campbell Causeway, jail records show. He was charged with falsely impersonating an officer, kidnapping and sexual battery.

Tampa police officers carry their badges and city identification on them even when they aren't on duty, and they don't investigate crime while off duty, Davis said. If they see an incident that might require investigation, they would call in help from an on-duty officer.

"There's nothing wrong with courteously asking an officer if you can call 911 to verify his location and that he's a police officer," Davis said.

Alejos works as a receptionist, jail records show.

Alejos, of 8635 White Swan Drive, No. 204, remains in jail. No bail has been set.

This isn't the first time in the past year a man in Tampa has posed as an officer to commit a sex act, police said.

In February, Luis Munuzuri Harris was sentenced to life in prison after two juries convicted Harris of impersonating a police officer. In one case, he used the ruse to pull over a woman on Bayshore Boulevard on July 29 and then kidnap and rape her.