Fake cop arrested again on impersonation charges

A Cheektowaga man arrested for impersonating a Buffalo police officer has allegedly done it again.

This time, Corey Shephard was arrested for an incident in June when he sought help from a Buffalo animal control officer while claiming to be a Buffalo police officer.

After hearing about Shephard's traffic stop in October in Cheektowaga while impersonating a cop, the animal control officer looked into an earlier incident in which a dog was taken from a drug suspect whom Shephard had detained.

According to the Central District Police Chief, Joseph Gramaglia, the animal control officer remembered Shephard as the one who made the call on the incident. He says Shephard said he pulled a car over and had a drug test and needed animal control to come immediately to take the dog.

Gramaglia says the animal control officer was called before uniformed Buffalo officers arrived. Shephard identified himself as a police officer to the animal control officer, but as a security guard to the uniformed police once they arrived.

The animal control officer took the dog away before uniformed officer arrived, according to Gramaglia. He was working on the assumption that Shephard was a real police officer.

Gramaglia also says the uniformed officers who arrested the drug suspect were unaware of what Shephard had told the animal control officer.

According to Gramaglia, Shephard directly contacted the animal control officer on the officer's cell phone. It is unclear how Shephard got the number.

Police say Shephard turned himself into Buffalo police Tuesday with his attorney Leonard Krawczyk Jr. He was arraigned in Buffalo City Court on a misdemeanor charge of criminal impersonation.

Shephard is due back in court on November 28 at 9:30 a.m. in front of Judge Hannah on criminal impersonation charges.