A 15-time felon who has repeatedly posed as a police officer to rob people allegedly did it again on the Northwest Side last month, using a fake patrol car with flashing blue lights to stop three men, then driving off with their wallets after claiming he was going to his SUV to “run their IDs.”
Juan Rodriguez, 43, was the front-seat passenger in a Ford Explorer driven by Nicole Carnes, 40, of Bridgeview, shortly after 12:30 a.m. on August 18, prosecutors said. Carnes allegedly pulled up behind three men walking home in the 4800 block of North Monticello Avenue and activated the SUV’s emergency lights.
Thinking that a squad car was approaching, the men stepped aside as Rodriguez got out and identified himself as a police officer while wearing a dark vest, badge and duty belt with a handgun attached, prosecutors said. He allegedly told the men he needed to check their IDs and search them. While going through their pockets, he took a wallet containing about $1,200 from one man and another wallet containing about $300 from a second man, according to a detention filing…