On September 7, 2019 Jeremy Charles Dewitte was arrested by officers of the Windermere Police Department on charges of resisting arrest without violence, impersonating a police officer, and reckless driving.
Six days after his arrest, Dewitte, accompanied by his attorney Amir Ladan, entered the office of Windermere Police Detective John Allen. He was there to file a complaint. Under oath.
Part of Detective Allen's job is to assess a complainant's credibility, and to that end he questioned Dewitte about his history of police impersonation arrests and accusations. Understandably, Dewitte played down his extensive record, but far less understandable is what happened next. Dewitte rewrote history under oath. His arrest (and conviction) in 1998 for impersonating a police officer? He never told anyone that he was a cop! It all stemmed from an innocent mistake involving a credit card that his mom got him right after his 18th birthday! He had pumped $13.40 of gas, and he went back the next day and paid for it!
When I first heard that recording I couldn't believe my ears. I am very familiar with the details of Dewitte's first arrest. I have read all of the court records from the case many times and I transcribed, word-for-word, the (originally handwritten) five-page arrest affidavit so I could include it in a public post on Patreon. Dewitte's version? The innocent mistake version? It was contradicted by the reality version.
Dewitte claimed that "In fact, I [had] just turned 18 for like, a week." But his birthday is February 10th and the incident occurred on May 18th. (It wasn't reported to the police until June 11th, and Dewitte was arrested on June 25th, 1998.) He claimed that his mom got him a credit card and he didn't realize that it needed to be activated... but there hadn't ever been a credit card. Dewitte attempted to pay using a prepaid Mobil "Go" gas card. He never told her that he was a police officer... yet the clerk - who has no reason to lie about this - stated that Dewitte had claimed to be a police officer. Dewitte also told the gas station owner that he was a police officer. Even minor details, like the dollar amount of the gas he had pumped. $13.40, stated with supreme confidence in the recording. Reality? That's wrong. And the last part? Which is perhaps the most important part? Dewitte's claim that he had gone back the next day and paid for the gas? Well, back in 1998 Jeremy Dewitte wrote a sworn affidavit: "
...In his statement, Defendant admitted that he did not pay for the gasoline, and has not paid since the date of the incident."
All of the documents shown on screen in this video are available for download at https://tiny.cc/dewitteless Also in that folder is Dewitte's Chicago arrest information. Because - hey - guess what?
Turns out he was arrested in Chicago after all. (Or so says the Chicago Police Department.)
Last but not least, a correction: on-screen text in this video asserts that Florida police academy applicants must be at least 19 years old. I had been provided that information from a source in Florida law enforcement and I regrettably did not verify it prior to its inclusion here. By law the age requirement only kicks in upon graduation, prior to employment in a sworn capacity. That said, I contacted *every* accredited law enforcement training center in Orange county and all but one stated that they require their applicants to be 19. In the unlikely event that Mr. Dewitte can prove that he had been accepted to a 770-hour basic law enforcement police training academy in 1998 (and not an "Explorer Academy, Citizen's Police Academy, Teen Police Academy, etc.), he is welcome to email verifiable evidence to corrections@realworldpolice.com. If that happens and his proof checks out, I will publish a prominent correction. Don't hold your breath.
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