A Chalfont Police Officer was sentenced on Tuesday for lying about being shot in an elaborate hoax.
In August of 2012, Officer Jon Cousin told police he was shot in the parking lot of the Lenape Valley Swim Club in Bucks County after pulling over a maroon Oldsmobile Cutlass with two men and one woman inside.
Cousin, a three-year veteran of the force, told police radio he was "hit in the chest, I think my vest stopped it, get a medic here," according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by NBC10.
As police began to investigate, they became suspicious when they found no gravel disturbance where the so-called suspects' vehicle would have driven away from the scene. They also say they only found casings from Cousin's police gun at the scene and no other casings, despite Cousin's claim that the suspect fired at him.
Investigators say the way the bullet struck the vest indicated that it was shot at close range and that Cousin should have therefore suffered bruises. Finally, investigators say the slug embedded into Officer Cousin's vest came from a .380 pistol, the type of gun that Cousin legally purchased two years to the date of the shooting.
Investigators later determined that Cousin fired three shots in the air at the swim club. They also suspect he fired his own personal gun at his own vest at some other time at a different location. Police eventually called Cousin to a location to pick up his belongings and arrested him once he arrived. He was charged with making a false report, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime and other related offenses, according to court records.
On Tuesday he was sentenced to nine to 23 months in prison.
GunCrisis.org, a website which covers violent crime in Philadelphia, posted what they claim to be the shortened version of the scanner audio of Cousin reporting the fake shooting. Check out the recording below.
Credit: GunCrisis.org
