There’s something about a man in uniform. Apparently that was the inspiration behind a NYC man’s desperate attempt to win the heart of a love interest.
Joseph Figueroa claimed to be many things — A Navy SEAL, a Marine, an FDA agent. But in reality, he was just a 54-year-old bodega worker, living with his mother in the Dyckman projects of Manhattan.
“This guy has been impersonating police” to meet women, a source told The NY Post about Figueroa.
According to the Post, Figueroa met a 36-year-old beauty salon owner from Queens, in early September on Facebook. He posted a “succession of gooey, red rose-strewn Spanish-language memes,” to win her over.
One of them read: “When you dream of that special person, and you wake up tasting their lips.”
Detectives say Figueroa posted pictures of himself on social media with the words, “FDA AGENT J. FIGUEROA” embroidered in gold on his navy shirt. In one of the Facebook photos – he’s sitting in the front seat of a car wearing a “standard G-man crew cut and mirrored sunglasses.”
A badge over his heart reads, “Fugitive Recovery Agent,” a title usually reserved for a bounty hunter. But when chatting with the woman, Figueroa reportedly said he was a “federal task-force agent for abused females and kids,” which doesn’t exist.
Driving in a blacked-out sedan, “Every time he meets with her, he is in full uniform with a gun,” a source said about Figueroa.
After a few face-to-face meetings, the woman started to realize that something was off. She tried to sever ties with Figueroa but that’s when police say he started stalking her.
“At one point, he pulls up to her job and, in front of everyone, pulls his gun out and points it at her while in this fake uniform,” officers said.
He’s now facing harassment, forgery and unlawful surveillance charges. The Post reports, Figueroa’s mother bailed him out of jail after posting $1,500 bond.
It’s not the first time he’s been behind bars. Figueroa was busted before for impersonating law enforcement, assault, robbery, burglary, burglary with a firearm and weapons possession.
