COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Police say a man posed as a police officer and tried to kidnap a woman as she meditated in a park.
According to the arrest warrant, investigators say the victim thought the suspect, Larry Copeland, was a real police officer, so she complied at first.
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He’s accused of ordering her to get on the ground then throwing her cellphone in a pond at Lost Mountain Park.
They say he was shining a flashlight in her face as well.
“Sometimes, bad actors might use the pretense of being law enforcement to lure someone into a false sense of security or a robbery,” said Sgt. Eric Smith, Cobb Police Public Information Officer.
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Sgt. Smith said officers are standard and well marked for patrol.
Police say they responded to the 911 call for a kidnapping in progress Wednesday night.
The would-be victim managed to escape. The 911 caller said the attacker took off in a white truck.
Copeland faces charges including impersonating an officer and false imprisonment.
Police say the suspect is a convicted felon, responsible for a rape and several armed robberies in the 1990s.
They did not provide other details from the investigation.
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