Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputies accuse man of impersonating an officer

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) - A man has been arrested after the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) claimed he posed as an officer over the phone and convinced someone to give him money.

Warnings have been given many times that law enforcement won’t ask for money. But, most times the suspect gets away with it.

Sheriff’s deputies say that, in this case, the victim gave the suspect more than $1,500. They came forward after feeling they’d been scammed.

Deputies charged Christopher Mathews Friday with nine counts of impersonating an officer and one count each of theft and identity theft.

Deputy Jessica McDaniel says Mathews was being held on similar charged in Georgia when they served warrants on him.

Investigators say Mathews claimed to be a Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy when he called several people asking for money owed because they didn’t appear for jury duty.

“We get them all the time,” said Daniels, a spokeswoman for TCSO. “Sometimes we get into issues with the spoofing of phone numbers. They’re very sophisticated scams and often we’re not able to track them down completely. But, this one, we had leads. We were able to chase them down and we got him.”

Authorities say only one person in west Alabama gave Mathews money.

They want to remind everyone that real law enforcement officers will never ask for money. If you get one of those calls, hang up.

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