Candidate used fake badge in 1992

A man running for Oldsmar City Council says he was trying to stop a fight in a bar parking lot. He was charged with a misdemeanor.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 4, 2001

OLDSMAR -- A candidate for City Council was charged with impersonating a police officer in 1992 after he showed a New Jersey police badge to law enforcement officials after a fight outside a bar in Tampa.

Marcelo F. Caruso, 29, who is running in a three-way race for Seat 2, pleaded no contest and was adjudicated guilty of a lesser charge, the unlawful use of a police badge, a misdemeanor, according to Hillsborough County court records.

Caruso was sentenced to one year of probation, 200 hours of community service and a $500 fine.

Caruso said Friday that he used the fake badge to break up a brawl between a handful of women and about five men who were throwing rocks and bottles at each other in the parking lot of the former Yucatan Liquor Stand in the West Shore business district.

Caruso, who was working as a tow truck driver at the time, said the fight started inside the bar but moved to the parking lot where he was parked with other tow truck drivers. Caruso said he didn't want anyone to get hurt in the melee, so he used a friend's fake badge, purchased in New York, to stop the fight.

"I really don't regret trying to break up the fight," Caruso said. "It was a big fight. But I regret that I was the one taken away."

After Caruso and the other tow truck drivers broke up the fight, he said they even called the police to pick up the brawlers. But when officers arrived, Caruso was charged with impersonating a police officer.

According to court records, when Caruso was confronted by Tampa police, he also showed them the Atlantic City, N.J., badge and claimed he was an officer.

"Upon contacting the New Jersey police department, it was discovered that (Caruso) was not a member of said department," according to an arrest report.

Caruso said he did not claim he was a law enforcement official to Tampa police officers.

Caruso is running against Deborah Chapman and Jean Jorgenson for Seat 2. Council member Ed Richards holds the seat now but is leaving because of term limits.

Caruso lives in the Eastlake Oaks subdivision and is active in the homeowners association. He was born in Brazil and moved to the United States about 12 years ago. He owns Caruso On Site Auto Care and Towing in Oldsmar. He filed papers to run for the council two years ago, but at the time, he had not lived in the city long enough to qualify.

Caruso, who has lived in Oldsmar for about three years, said that if elected, he would like to run the city more like a business. "(The council) has to have some new blood, some new people," he said. "I have plenty of ideas to give."

He said his 1992 arrest should not be an issue during the election since it was a long time ago and since the charge was dropped to a misdemeanor.

"That's almost a decade ago," Caruso said. "I don't even remember it anymore. It was nothing."

- Staff writer Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or quioco@sptimes.com.

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