Court Denies Appeal By Cop Impostor Justices Don’t Buy Man’s Bid For Freedom On Legal Technicality

It isn’t necessary to show that a person brought an “armed police force” into the state to support a conviction for illegally posing as a police officer, the Idaho Court of Appeals says.

The court on Tuesday unanimously rejected an appeal from Emiliano Tino Rivera. He was convicted in an Ada County case of flashing a deputy sheriff’s badge and attempting to flee from the scene of a crime with another man.

Court records said that in January 1996, a young man was beaten by a group of people. As the victim’s girlfriend went to help him, Rivera, who was nearby, flashed a badge and told the girl he would handle the situation.

Rivera and Casey Spiegel, later charged with battery for the attack, attempted to drive away. Records said an officer arrived and arrested Rivera and Spiegel after a chase.

The officer said Rivera had a badge from the Ada County Sheriff’s office when he arrested him.

Rivera’s appeal said the law involved requires showing that the person brought or caused to be brought into the state “any armed or unarmed police force or detective agency or force, or any armed or unarmed body of men for the suppression of domestic violence …”

Judge Darrel Perry concluded that a person can violate the law by exercising police functions or holding himself out to be a law official.

“The district court was correct when it concluded that bringing police forces into the state is not a necessary element of Rivera’s charge …,” the court said.

In another decision released by the Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday, justices sent rulings in the Snake River Basin Adjudication case back to district court for more work and said two general provisions must be included.