A Massapequa man was convicted after a jury trial of multiple counts of weapons possession and impersonating a police officer after a loaded, operable illegal handgun and police paraphernalia were found by officers during a 2023 traffic stop, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Andrew Denton, 27, was convicted on Wednesday, Oct. 29, of three counts of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal impersonation, operating a motor vehicle with no license plate or a single license plate and unauthorized colored lights on a vehicle.
Denton faces a maximum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 3, according to the DA.
Donnelly said that on Oct. 11, 2023, two officers were on patrol in an unmarked car on the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway and attempting to merge onto the highway.
They stopped to let a car go ahead of them, which was Denton’s Chevrolet Impala, the DA said.
While driving on the expressway, Denton brake-checked the officers’ car and then turned on blue, amber, and white rear emergency lights on his Impala, she said.
Officers recognized that the car had characteristics that did not match an actual Nassau County unmarked police vehicle, making them suspicious, Donnelly said.
The officers followed Denton off the highway and activated their own emergency lights to pull him over, but Denton didn’t stop the car immediately, Donnelly said. Instead, he drove slowly and rummaged around in the front passenger seat, the DA said.
Donnelly said Denton stopped the car once he realized he could not evade the officers.
After approaching the car, officers spotted an orange flare gun inside the glovebox and a gun light, an accessory designed to be mounted to the bottom of a gun barrel, the DA said.
Denton and his unidentified passenger were asked to step out of the car, which was then searched by the officers who recovered a knife, a New York City Police Department shield, handcuffs, flares for the flare gun and bore brushes used to clean a .40 or .45 caliber firearm as well as small gray backpack that contained a loaded .45 caliber gun with two magazines filled with 17 bullets, Donnelly said.
Denton’s car was impounded, and another search of the trunk recovered a black tactical police vest with wooden pieces instead of armored plates inside the vest, covered in patches that read “Police DEA Task Force” and “Polic,” a shield, handcuffs, a fake imitation taser, a baton and a shoulder-mounted radio, according to the DA.
The investigation also determined that Denton was the major contributor of DNA recovered from the firearm, Donnelly said.
“Denton told excuse after excuse to explain away his crimes, but police officers – and now a jury of his peers – were not buying it,” Donnelly said after the conviction.
