Man Impersonates Cop to Lure Boy from Walmart: Cops
The boy was playing video games when the man approached
A 70-year-old man scared a boy playing video games from a Newington Walmart by impersonating a cop, police said.
The 10-year-old boy was playing a video game in the electronics department of a Walmart on the Berlin Turnpike around 7:30 p.m. Thursday when Martin Spelas, 70, of West Hartford, approached him, cops said.
Spelas said he was a cop and the boy needed to go with him to help with a television, police said.
The boy walked away and his mother asked what happened. When he told her, she confronted Spelas and said she was going to call police.
She did, and cops arrested the West Hartford man.
Spelas tells NBC Connecticut that he made a mistake and apologizes to the boy and his mother. He's been seeing a psychiatrist for about 15 years and makes mistakes, he said.
Cops said Spelas admitted to police that he told the boy he was a police officer and that he said he needed help with a television.
He was charged with impersonation of a police officer and risk of injury to a minor. The pain from the handcuffs is something he'll never forget, he said.
He was released on a $25,000 bond and he is scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Nov. 19.
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