Man pleads to impersonating public servant, reckless endangerment
An Allentown man pleaded guilty in Carbon County court on Thursday to impersonating a public servant in one case and recklessly endangering a person in a second case.
He entered a guilty plea before Judge Steven R. Serfass.
Ricky Julio Velez, 35, was arrested on the impersonating charge on July 17, 2016, by Lehighton police. The county communications center received a 911 call stating shots were fired and an officer was down in the 100 block of South First Street. The caller said he was a police officer. Lehighton officers responded to the area but found no signs of any kind of incident. Through an investigation it was determined that Velez had made the call.
The reckless endangering count occurred on June 7, 2015, filed by state police at Lehighton for an incident at Dam and Main streets in Parryville. Velez backed his vehicle into the vehicle of a woman with whom he was involved in a custody matter. In the car with the woman were two juveniles, ages 4 and 10, the defendant’s children with the victim. At the time of the incident, Velez was a corrections officer at the Carbon County prison. He was terminated from his position after his arrest.
Serfass placed him on probation for a year on each count, running consecutively, and ordered him to attend and successfully complete an anger management course, make restitution for damages in the second case of $6,384.07, and render a total of 100 hours of community service.
