Fake Nashville Cop Busted Harassing Repo Agent Has Hearing
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – On the eve of a state hearing into accused “imposter police” in Tennessee, WSMV4 Investigates has obtained new footage of a non-certified civilian identifying as a police officer.
WSMV4 Investigates first learned late last year of an incident at Opry Mills mall in which an employee of the security company Solaren, who is not state-certified law enforcement, was identified as off-duty police.
Because of Metro Nashville police’s lag in producing body camera footage, WSMV4 Investigates just obtained the video.
The footage shows, on April 4, 2024, how MNPD officer Blaze Williams was called to the Opry Mills mall on a report of a trespassing.
When Williams arrived, Connor Hawkins, a driver with a repossession company, had been blocked in by mall security, accused of trespassing on the property as he was trying to repossess a car.
Standing with Opry Mills security was Vincent Trapani, a security guard with the Mt. Juliet company, Solaren Risk Management.
Solaren is at the center of WSMV4′s “Thin Blurred Line” reporting, which exposed accused imposter police officer in Tennessee.
The body camera footage shows that Hawkins was on the phone with the repossession company’s attorney, as well as Paul Dillon, a private investigator who worked for the attorney.
Dillon tells WSMV4 Investigates that both he and Hawkins heard Trapani describe himself as an off-duty police officer working security.
“There was no reservation in that comment that he was a certified police officer. Not just a police officer, but a certified police officer,” Dillon told WSMV4 Investigates.
In the body camera footage, you can hear Dillon tell the metro police officer that Trapani called himself an off-duty police officer.
Dillon asks the police officer to verify that Trapani is indeed an off-duty police.
When Officer Williams asks Trapani if he is off-duty police and certified by the state, Trapani shows him what’s on his phone, which is not visible in the body camera footage.
Trapani’s move made Dillon suspicious.
“Here’s a security guard, saying he’s a commissioned police officer, does not have a badge or a commission card on his possession? But pulls it up on his phone?” Dillon told WSMV4 Investigates.
While it’s unclear what’s on Trapani’s phone, documentation from the state and Solaren’s CEO, Jack Byrd, shows that Trapani was a police officer, as well as military police, in Illinois.
In the body camera footage, Williams asks Trapani a question after seeing what was shown on his phone.
“Are you with a police department up there?” Williams asks Trapani.
“Yes,” Trapani said.
A spokesman for the department of commerce and insurance, which certifies police officers in Tennessee, told WSMV4 Investigates Trapani is not state certified law enforcement.
According to state statute, in order to work as an off-duty police officer, you have to be working for a police agency in the state.
Dillon said that after the incident at Opry Mills, he was unable to find any police agency in Tennessee that employed Trapani.
“I called the city police department where he lives in. The smaller agencies, nobody knew who he was,” Dillon told WSMV4 Investigates.
“If we have somebody who’s impersonating a police officer, who is not a police officer, especially when they’re in a uniform presenting themselves as an official, I think that’s very troubling.”
According to a complaint filed against Solaren by the state, state investigators found in 2023 that Trapani identified as an off-duty police officer while working for a downtown bar.
Byrd agreed to speak with WSMV4 Investigates.
“Was it wrong for him to identify himself as a police officer?” asked WSMV4 Investigates.
“Absolutely not,” Byrd said.
Byrd said his attorneys are prepared to argue that federal and state exemptions allow Trapani to identify as off-duty police in Tennessee.
A hearing is set for Wednesday morning for an administrative law judge to hear 62 violations against Solaren.
“People may see this and think, this is another instance of you kind of blurring the lines again with one of your employees. What would you say about that?” WSMV4 Investigates asked.
“I’d say that’s definitely untrue – and we’re going to prove that case this week,” Byrd said.
WSMV4 Investigates will be at the hearing starting Wednesday and will provide live updates on all our platforms.
