I doubt I’d admire much about Christopher Sharp, but I have to say I’m kind of impressed by his commitment. Unfortunately that commitment was to lying about being a police officer for 6 months to impress the girl he was dating, but hey.
According to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Department, Sharps’s time pretending to be a deputy lasted from August of 2012, to January of 2013- the same length of time he was in a relationship with Randi Merril.
When detectives interviewed Sharp, a Hernando county resident, he said he did this to impress his girlfriend.
Sharp would come home “from work” wearing his Pasco County Sheriff’s Office uniform, telling stories to Merril, her family, and friends about what had occurred during his “shift.” He even went so far as to provide legal advice to people regarding child custody matters, avoiding a DUI arrest, and traffic citations, reports say.
Apparently he would do this everywhere, including the bar where his girlfriend worked and even at a New Year’s Eve party.
I wish I could tell you how he ended up getting outed, but that wasn’t reported. I can, however, tell you how he got his hands on his police uniform.
After an investigation, it was revealed that Sharp worked at Pizza Hut and he stole the Deputy Sheriff uniform from his sister’s boyfriend, who is a real Pasco County Deputy Sheriff.
Reports indicate Sharp would stop on his way home from Pizza Hut and change into the deputy shirt and badge, along with a pair of army pants.
Given that he did this regularly, I find it a bit hard to believe that it wasn’t somehow an inside job. Of course there’s a good chance that it was all him with no help from the sister or the uniform’s rightful owner, but it seems a little odd.
And here’s the best part.
Sharp told officials he knew what he was doing was wrong, and also admitted that he previously tried to get hired by Hillsborough County, but was not selected to be sponsored.
Seems the folks responsible for doing the hiring may have been on to something.
Sharp was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer, but things could be worse. If they put him away, at least he might have a nice future working in the cafeteria.
