Fla. teen arrested for posing as cop, said to have history as impostor

(CBS/WKMG) MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - A South Florida teenager was arrested Thursday for allegedly impersonating a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon. CBS affiliate WKMG reports 18-year-old Matthew Scheidt was arrested on Miami Beach. According to authorities, Scheidt was recently arrested in Osceola County for allegedly impersonating a physician's assistant and treating patients at a hospital.

Scheidt posted bond on Thursday but a judge Friday revoked bond and ordered him back to jail. Detectives obtained a grand theft felony warrant Thursday, related to the theft of a radio police said Scheidt was using to impersonate an officer.

A police report says Scheidt pulled up next to an undercover officer in a white Ford, resembling an unmarked police car.

The officer said Scheidt was "conducting himself as an officer and using a laptop." The report says he was using police jargon and told the officer to put on his seatbelt.

The undercover officer called for back-up and when the other policemen arrived, they did a routine traffic stop on the suspect and say they found a .380 caliber Ruger under the passenger seat, a Taser X-26, handcuffs, a radio, an Osceola County police badge, Osceola police T-shirts and an empty ankle holster.

Osceola deputies said the badge Scheidt had on him is a fake, but the ID card is authentic. Police said Scheidt got the ID from when he was part of the police Explorer Program, designed to foster respect for law and order and an interest in law enforcement careers among youth.

Scheidt was in the Explorer Program from 1997 until he was terminated from the volunteer program in 2010 for violating policies.

In August, police said Scheidt met with staff at Osceola Regional Medical Center and asked for a new hospital identification badge, saying he had changed offices and was a physician's assistant.

He was given an ID card that indicated that he was a physician assistant, police said.

Scheidt later presented himself to a nurse at the hospital emergency room as a physician's assistant student at Nova University and said he was working with one of the doctors there, assisting him in the office and the operating room, according to police.

While in the ER, Scheidt conducted exams, provided patient care and accessed restricted patient information, Kissimmee police said.

Scheidt reportedly continually requested access to restricted areas of the hospital, so the Human Resources Department became concerned and checked into his qualifications.

A check into his records showed that Scheidt worked for Surgical Management Group as a part-time billing clerk, not a physician's assistant.

Authorities were contacted and Scheidt cooperated with detectives.

In that case, Scheidt was charged with five counts of impersonating a physician's assistant, a third-degree felony.