Post by cleopatra on Oct 22, 2021 5:16:48 GMT
I posted this back in 2018:
Has anyone heard of this guy? BYRON FITZ
He worked as a volunteer firefighter.
He was charged with IMPERSONATING A POLICE OFFICER.
It was later found that he had been doing it as far back as 1984.
He was finally caught and arrested in 1992.
Here are three articles about him:
ARTICLE #1
MAN SUES VIRGINIA BEACH, ALLEGES HE WAS ABUSED DURING '89 GREEKFEST
MATHEW PAUST Staff Writer Daily Press
A 22-year-old Hampton man who says he was beaten and falsely arrested in Virginia Beach during the Labor Day weekend last year is suing the city.
Melvin F. Moore of Banister Drive claims in the action, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, that on Sept. 3, 1989, he was attacked by a Virginia Beach police officer and a private security guard.
The police officer, identified in the lawsuit as "John Doe," and the guard, Byron Fritz, struck him "several times about the head with their fists and a stick," threw him to the pavement and twisted his arms behind his back, Moore alleges in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred on 24th Street near Pacific Avenue.
The lawsuit contends that the officer and the security guard then conspired to cover up the officer's involvement by trumping up charges against Moore and giving false testimony in a trial in which Moore was convicted of breaking and entering and petty larceny.
Moore, who denies in the complaint that he committed the crimes, is seeking $1 million in damages.
Named as defendants besides the city are Fritz, Price Detective Agency of Virginia Beach, "John Doe" and Virginia Beach Police Chief Charles R. Wall.
None of the defendants had been served with the action as of Tuesday. Lewis Thurston, a police spokesman, said department policy would prohibit official comment.
Shirley J. Price, whose son, M. Shane Price, owned Price Security Agency Inc., which employed Fritz, said the agency has been sold. Price Detective Agency Inc., a related firm, is inactive although it is still licensed, she said.
Fritz, who now works for a pet shop, denies that he ever had physical contact with Moore.
Fritz said he saw Moore running with an armload of clothing and that he chased him into a crowd.
The former guard said he saw a man in the crowd club Moore on the head.
Fritz said he gave police internal affairs investigators the names of two uniformed guards who he said handcuffed Moore after the civilian clubbed him.
The two guards were never called to testify in Moore's trial, Fritz said.
He said the internal affairs officers were investigating a complaint of police brutality brought by Moore.
Moore claims in the lawsuit to have been permanently disfigured by the injury to his forehead.
The lawsuit alleges that the "abuse" which Moore allegedly suffered "was consistent with the widespread and systemic abuse inflicted on other African-American citizens" by Virginia Beach police during the 1989 Labor Day weekend.
ARTICLE #2
He volunteers his time as a firefighter for a Valley fire department, but now he's under arrest. Thirty-nine-year-old Byron Fritz is facing charges of possessing lights and sirens for what looked like a police car.
Investigator Brian Jenkins says he found police lights, badges, handcuffs and more inside of Fritz's car and business last week.
Jenkins says after Fritz approached Augusta County Sheriff’s deputies about purchasing police equipment from his new police supply store, they became suspicious.
He explains, "We did a little checking on him, found some circuit court records which indicated that he had been barred from possessing certain items, Virginia state seals, badges, patches and whatnot."
After visiting Fritz's store in Stuarts Draft, police confiscated all of the items inside. They even took his two cars, a Dodge Intrepid and Dodge Charger, which are both models commonly used by police departments.
Jenkins says, "Inside the white Intrepid, we discovered where there were warning lights that had been removed, antennas that had been removed from the exterior of the vehicle and also there was a siren unit that was still active and mounted in the glove box of that car."
Police say Fritz never tried to pull anyone over in Augusta County, but he does have the means to do so. In fact, Fritz has been convicted of impersonating a police officer in Virginia Beach.
"To me, as a law enforcement officer, it's very disturbing when somebody who's been convicted and barred by a circuit court judge of ever possessing these items is indeed in possession of them. It's very disturbing," comments Jenkins.
Fritz was a volunteer firefighter with the Dooms Fire Department for two years before his arrest. He has since left that position.
ARTICLE #2
State Police arrested a 25-year-old Virginia Beach man Monday on charges of impersonating a police officer.
Trooper T.A. Rice arrested Bryon Fritz of Sierra Arch on Interstate 64 at Norview Avenue in Norfolk late Monday afternoon, said State Police spokeswoman Rebecca Feaster. Fritz's white 1989 Chevrolet was outfitted with antennae, a scanner, speed detector and blue lights on the dashboard so that it looked almost identical to an unmarked State Police car.
State Police also seized more than 300 police-related items - including badges, patches and clothing from police departments across the state - during a search of Fritz's home. Police believe that he has presented himself as a police officer for several years throughout Hampton Roads and as far north as I-95 near Richmond, stopping motorists and issuing summonses, said Rice.
Fritz is being held without bond in the Virginia Beach jail.
Rice originally spotted Fritz and his vehicle on Nov. 14, when he was off duty and in his own car.
Rice said Fritz sped past him at about 80 miles an hour on I-44 and drove through the toll plaza without paying. Rice could see blue lights displayed on the dashboard, antennae of the same make, style and location as legitimate law enforcement cars, and a jacket hanging in the rear window, with a badge showing. He also noticed that Fritz's car had the Virginia state seal on the license plates, something an unmarked State Police car would not have.
Although Rice was able to get the name and address of the car's owner, Fritz had moved to an unknown address and taken the car with him when Rice went to check on the vehicle.
On Nov. 29 Rice stopped Fritz on Military Highway in Chesapeake for having unauthorized blue lights on a personal vehicle and driving on a suspended license. Rice warned Fritz to get rid of the blue lights and told him that if he failed to comply, Rice would get warrants for the speeding violation and Fritz's failure to pay a toll two weeks earlier.
On Dec. 2, Rice went to Fritz's home and seized the blue lights, which were still on the car.
He alerted other police departments to be on the lookout for Fritz.
He learned that officers in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake had all stopped Fritz at one time or another during recent months.
Mere possession of police paraphernalia is not illegal, so it was important for police to try to locate people who may have had direct contact with Fritz, Rice said.
The regional alert brought a witness who had seen Fritz stop a car on Virginia Beach Boulevard at Witchduck Road on Sunday, Sept.5, at about 1:30 p.m. in front of Bill's Flea Market, Rice said.
Mike Wilson of Virginia Beach said he was selling military surplus items at the flea market when he noticed Fritz's car blocking a dark blue Toyota.
"He got out and was barking at these two girls to give him their licenses and registration," Wilson said.
Wilson said Fritz was wearing blue coveralls with K-9 patches on each sleeve and identified himself as an off-duty police officer. Rice said Fritz was also wearing a holstered semiautomatic pistol.
Wilson, who is a private investigator, said he became suspicious of the man when he noticed the patches on both sleeves and 30-day tags on the car he drove.
State Police are now seeking the two young women in their late teens or early 20s who were driving the dark blue late model Toyota that Fritz pulled over on Sept. 5.
They are also interested in talking to anyone who believes they had an encounter with Fritz in which he presented himself as a police officer.
ARTICLE #3
The arrest Monday of a man charged with impersonating a police officer has prompted nearly 100 phone calls from people who claim to have had similar encounters with the man, the trooper investigating the case said Wednesday.
Trooper T.A. Rice said he had "just started to scratch the surface" and that the investigation could spread to other crimes across the state.
"The investigation is spanning everything and I am ruling out nothing," Rice said. "I am going to start researching back and looking at every unsolved crime that would fit within the parameters of this crime, especially crimes against people who thought they were dealing with actual police officers."
Rice said Wednesday he could not rule out the accused impostor as a suspect in a string of murders and disappearances on or near the Peninsula the last seven years that police have said may be the work of a serial killer, possibly one who posed as a police officer. Rice said he had not yet been able to contact members of the joint State Police-FBI task force investigating those crimes.
On Wednesday, 25-year-old Bryon Fritz of Virginia Beach remained in the Virginia Beach jail with no bond, facing two charges of impersonating a police officer. Rice had testified before a judge Tuesday that Fritz posed a danger if released.
For the second day, police asked media not to publish photographs of the suspect, so that witnesses coming forward with information could make independent descriptions or try to pick him out of photo lineups.
The impersonation charges against Fritz stem from an incident in September and one last month. Rice said Fritz was arrested on similar charges in Norfolk in 1986 and that he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Rice said that as of late Wednesday he has 14 other cases that may result in additional charges.
Based on the investigation so far, Rice said he believes Fritz has been riding the roads and interstate highways in his mock patrol car, passing himself off as a police officer throughout Hampton Roads and at least as far north as Richmond since the mid-1980s.
Rice said the State Police have had run-ins with Fritz since 1984, but another state investigator would not comment on past investigations.
One woman who called Wednesday said she had worked at Lynnhaven Mall in 1989 and 1990 and that Fritz had frequently come to the store where she worked to talk with her and the other women, Rice said. She said he wore police uniforms, claimed to be an officer and hung around the mall parking lot in a blue Ford "decked out with everything."
Before he bought the white 1989 Chevrolet he was driving when he was arrested, police believe that Fritz drove a blue Ford Tempo. Others who knew Fritz have told Rice that the Ford was also outfitted with blue lights.
A search of Fritz's Sierra Arch house Tuesday turned up more than 300 police-related items, including a variety of badges, ball caps, jackets, a visor plate that read "Federal Agent/Official Business," two trooper-style uniform hats with hat straps, a pair of coveralls displaying K-9 patches, a lightweight jacket with a Drug Enforcement Agency patch on it, two miniature Virginia State Police badges, state trooper pins from Florida and Tennessee, two pairs of handcuffs, a portable police scanner, and a .380 semiautomatic pistol.
It is not illegal to possess police-related items, but it is a misdemeanor to present oneself as a police officer.
Other callers Wednesday reported that Fritz's obsession with police work is not new, Rice said. People who knew Fritz at Kempsville High School called authorities to say that even then he purported to be a "narc."
Not all of the allegations involve traffic stops or intimidating business owners under the guise of doing a police investigation, Rice said. One caller said that Fritz presented himself as a state trooper when he stopped to help a motorist whose car had broken down.
Fritz made news in 1989 when, while working as a security guard, he was involved in an incident during the Labor Day riots at Virginia Beach and became a key witness in the trial against one alleged looter. His testimony helped convict the man of looting a sports shop, but the conviction was later overturned because Fritz recanted his testimony.
Rice continues to ask for anyone who may have been followed or stopped by or otherwise encountered Fritz to call state police.
"I'm not going to rest until I find out exactly everything he has done and everyone he has approached," Rice said.
Has anyone heard of this guy? BYRON FITZ
He worked as a volunteer firefighter.
He was charged with IMPERSONATING A POLICE OFFICER.
It was later found that he had been doing it as far back as 1984.
He was finally caught and arrested in 1992.
Here are three articles about him:
ARTICLE #1
MAN SUES VIRGINIA BEACH, ALLEGES HE WAS ABUSED DURING '89 GREEKFEST
MATHEW PAUST Staff Writer Daily Press
A 22-year-old Hampton man who says he was beaten and falsely arrested in Virginia Beach during the Labor Day weekend last year is suing the city.
Melvin F. Moore of Banister Drive claims in the action, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, that on Sept. 3, 1989, he was attacked by a Virginia Beach police officer and a private security guard.
The police officer, identified in the lawsuit as "John Doe," and the guard, Byron Fritz, struck him "several times about the head with their fists and a stick," threw him to the pavement and twisted his arms behind his back, Moore alleges in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred on 24th Street near Pacific Avenue.
The lawsuit contends that the officer and the security guard then conspired to cover up the officer's involvement by trumping up charges against Moore and giving false testimony in a trial in which Moore was convicted of breaking and entering and petty larceny.
Moore, who denies in the complaint that he committed the crimes, is seeking $1 million in damages.
Named as defendants besides the city are Fritz, Price Detective Agency of Virginia Beach, "John Doe" and Virginia Beach Police Chief Charles R. Wall.
None of the defendants had been served with the action as of Tuesday. Lewis Thurston, a police spokesman, said department policy would prohibit official comment.
Shirley J. Price, whose son, M. Shane Price, owned Price Security Agency Inc., which employed Fritz, said the agency has been sold. Price Detective Agency Inc., a related firm, is inactive although it is still licensed, she said.
Fritz, who now works for a pet shop, denies that he ever had physical contact with Moore.
Fritz said he saw Moore running with an armload of clothing and that he chased him into a crowd.
The former guard said he saw a man in the crowd club Moore on the head.
Fritz said he gave police internal affairs investigators the names of two uniformed guards who he said handcuffed Moore after the civilian clubbed him.
The two guards were never called to testify in Moore's trial, Fritz said.
He said the internal affairs officers were investigating a complaint of police brutality brought by Moore.
Moore claims in the lawsuit to have been permanently disfigured by the injury to his forehead.
The lawsuit alleges that the "abuse" which Moore allegedly suffered "was consistent with the widespread and systemic abuse inflicted on other African-American citizens" by Virginia Beach police during the 1989 Labor Day weekend.
ARTICLE #2
He volunteers his time as a firefighter for a Valley fire department, but now he's under arrest. Thirty-nine-year-old Byron Fritz is facing charges of possessing lights and sirens for what looked like a police car.
Investigator Brian Jenkins says he found police lights, badges, handcuffs and more inside of Fritz's car and business last week.
Jenkins says after Fritz approached Augusta County Sheriff’s deputies about purchasing police equipment from his new police supply store, they became suspicious.
He explains, "We did a little checking on him, found some circuit court records which indicated that he had been barred from possessing certain items, Virginia state seals, badges, patches and whatnot."
After visiting Fritz's store in Stuarts Draft, police confiscated all of the items inside. They even took his two cars, a Dodge Intrepid and Dodge Charger, which are both models commonly used by police departments.
Jenkins says, "Inside the white Intrepid, we discovered where there were warning lights that had been removed, antennas that had been removed from the exterior of the vehicle and also there was a siren unit that was still active and mounted in the glove box of that car."
Police say Fritz never tried to pull anyone over in Augusta County, but he does have the means to do so. In fact, Fritz has been convicted of impersonating a police officer in Virginia Beach.
"To me, as a law enforcement officer, it's very disturbing when somebody who's been convicted and barred by a circuit court judge of ever possessing these items is indeed in possession of them. It's very disturbing," comments Jenkins.
Fritz was a volunteer firefighter with the Dooms Fire Department for two years before his arrest. He has since left that position.
ARTICLE #2
State Police arrested a 25-year-old Virginia Beach man Monday on charges of impersonating a police officer.
Trooper T.A. Rice arrested Bryon Fritz of Sierra Arch on Interstate 64 at Norview Avenue in Norfolk late Monday afternoon, said State Police spokeswoman Rebecca Feaster. Fritz's white 1989 Chevrolet was outfitted with antennae, a scanner, speed detector and blue lights on the dashboard so that it looked almost identical to an unmarked State Police car.
State Police also seized more than 300 police-related items - including badges, patches and clothing from police departments across the state - during a search of Fritz's home. Police believe that he has presented himself as a police officer for several years throughout Hampton Roads and as far north as I-95 near Richmond, stopping motorists and issuing summonses, said Rice.
Fritz is being held without bond in the Virginia Beach jail.
Rice originally spotted Fritz and his vehicle on Nov. 14, when he was off duty and in his own car.
Rice said Fritz sped past him at about 80 miles an hour on I-44 and drove through the toll plaza without paying. Rice could see blue lights displayed on the dashboard, antennae of the same make, style and location as legitimate law enforcement cars, and a jacket hanging in the rear window, with a badge showing. He also noticed that Fritz's car had the Virginia state seal on the license plates, something an unmarked State Police car would not have.
Although Rice was able to get the name and address of the car's owner, Fritz had moved to an unknown address and taken the car with him when Rice went to check on the vehicle.
On Nov. 29 Rice stopped Fritz on Military Highway in Chesapeake for having unauthorized blue lights on a personal vehicle and driving on a suspended license. Rice warned Fritz to get rid of the blue lights and told him that if he failed to comply, Rice would get warrants for the speeding violation and Fritz's failure to pay a toll two weeks earlier.
On Dec. 2, Rice went to Fritz's home and seized the blue lights, which were still on the car.
He alerted other police departments to be on the lookout for Fritz.
He learned that officers in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake had all stopped Fritz at one time or another during recent months.
Mere possession of police paraphernalia is not illegal, so it was important for police to try to locate people who may have had direct contact with Fritz, Rice said.
The regional alert brought a witness who had seen Fritz stop a car on Virginia Beach Boulevard at Witchduck Road on Sunday, Sept.5, at about 1:30 p.m. in front of Bill's Flea Market, Rice said.
Mike Wilson of Virginia Beach said he was selling military surplus items at the flea market when he noticed Fritz's car blocking a dark blue Toyota.
"He got out and was barking at these two girls to give him their licenses and registration," Wilson said.
Wilson said Fritz was wearing blue coveralls with K-9 patches on each sleeve and identified himself as an off-duty police officer. Rice said Fritz was also wearing a holstered semiautomatic pistol.
Wilson, who is a private investigator, said he became suspicious of the man when he noticed the patches on both sleeves and 30-day tags on the car he drove.
State Police are now seeking the two young women in their late teens or early 20s who were driving the dark blue late model Toyota that Fritz pulled over on Sept. 5.
They are also interested in talking to anyone who believes they had an encounter with Fritz in which he presented himself as a police officer.
ARTICLE #3
The arrest Monday of a man charged with impersonating a police officer has prompted nearly 100 phone calls from people who claim to have had similar encounters with the man, the trooper investigating the case said Wednesday.
Trooper T.A. Rice said he had "just started to scratch the surface" and that the investigation could spread to other crimes across the state.
"The investigation is spanning everything and I am ruling out nothing," Rice said. "I am going to start researching back and looking at every unsolved crime that would fit within the parameters of this crime, especially crimes against people who thought they were dealing with actual police officers."
Rice said Wednesday he could not rule out the accused impostor as a suspect in a string of murders and disappearances on or near the Peninsula the last seven years that police have said may be the work of a serial killer, possibly one who posed as a police officer. Rice said he had not yet been able to contact members of the joint State Police-FBI task force investigating those crimes.
On Wednesday, 25-year-old Bryon Fritz of Virginia Beach remained in the Virginia Beach jail with no bond, facing two charges of impersonating a police officer. Rice had testified before a judge Tuesday that Fritz posed a danger if released.
For the second day, police asked media not to publish photographs of the suspect, so that witnesses coming forward with information could make independent descriptions or try to pick him out of photo lineups.
The impersonation charges against Fritz stem from an incident in September and one last month. Rice said Fritz was arrested on similar charges in Norfolk in 1986 and that he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Rice said that as of late Wednesday he has 14 other cases that may result in additional charges.
Based on the investigation so far, Rice said he believes Fritz has been riding the roads and interstate highways in his mock patrol car, passing himself off as a police officer throughout Hampton Roads and at least as far north as Richmond since the mid-1980s.
Rice said the State Police have had run-ins with Fritz since 1984, but another state investigator would not comment on past investigations.
One woman who called Wednesday said she had worked at Lynnhaven Mall in 1989 and 1990 and that Fritz had frequently come to the store where she worked to talk with her and the other women, Rice said. She said he wore police uniforms, claimed to be an officer and hung around the mall parking lot in a blue Ford "decked out with everything."
Before he bought the white 1989 Chevrolet he was driving when he was arrested, police believe that Fritz drove a blue Ford Tempo. Others who knew Fritz have told Rice that the Ford was also outfitted with blue lights.
A search of Fritz's Sierra Arch house Tuesday turned up more than 300 police-related items, including a variety of badges, ball caps, jackets, a visor plate that read "Federal Agent/Official Business," two trooper-style uniform hats with hat straps, a pair of coveralls displaying K-9 patches, a lightweight jacket with a Drug Enforcement Agency patch on it, two miniature Virginia State Police badges, state trooper pins from Florida and Tennessee, two pairs of handcuffs, a portable police scanner, and a .380 semiautomatic pistol.
It is not illegal to possess police-related items, but it is a misdemeanor to present oneself as a police officer.
Other callers Wednesday reported that Fritz's obsession with police work is not new, Rice said. People who knew Fritz at Kempsville High School called authorities to say that even then he purported to be a "narc."
Not all of the allegations involve traffic stops or intimidating business owners under the guise of doing a police investigation, Rice said. One caller said that Fritz presented himself as a state trooper when he stopped to help a motorist whose car had broken down.
Fritz made news in 1989 when, while working as a security guard, he was involved in an incident during the Labor Day riots at Virginia Beach and became a key witness in the trial against one alleged looter. His testimony helped convict the man of looting a sports shop, but the conviction was later overturned because Fritz recanted his testimony.
Rice continues to ask for anyone who may have been followed or stopped by or otherwise encountered Fritz to call state police.
"I'm not going to rest until I find out exactly everything he has done and everyone he has approached," Rice said.
