Police say a drunken panhandler charged with harassing the customers of a western Pennsylvania business falsely claimed to be a state trooper -- but was found out when he claimed to work at a nonexistent barracks.
Police in Latrobe, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, say a store owner called 911 to complain about the man harassing his customers Friday afternoon.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports the store owner was concerned because Kevin Cunningham allegedly threatened to hit him and said he was a trooper. The dispatcher asked the store owner where Cunningham claimed to be stationed and he said Delmont -- a town several miles away with no barracks.
When questioned, Cunningham was “visibly intoxicated,” according to an affidavit obtained by the paper.
Cunningham was charged with impersonating a public servant, harassment and public drunkenness, according to court records.
Court records don't list an attorney for the 51-year-old Cunningham, and his listed phone number in Latrobe is disconnected.
