Man Poses as Investigator, Tries to Talk Sky Harbor Cops Into Handing Over Prisoner

Talk about huevos.Last June, a man strolled up to Phoenix police officers at Sky Harbor International Airport and tried to talk them into releasing into his custody another man they were holding on an FBI warrant, says the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. In a news release put out this afternoon,...

By Ray Stern

March 12, 2009

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Talk about huevos.

Last June, a man strolled up to Phoenix police officers at Sky Harbor International Airport and tried to talk them into releasing into his custody another man they were holding on an FBI warrant, says the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

In a

news release put out this afternoon, the office says that cops didn't buy Cosmon William's story that he was an investigator with the county attorney's office. Phoenix cops know better than to let someone escape, it seems. Later, a search of the FBI prisoner's home turned up a picture of the prisoner and Williams, who was allegedly wearing a police badge. Williams was indicted on late last month on a felony charge of hindering prosecution and a misdemeanor charge of giving false information to police officers.

Cops finally caught up to Williams yesterday and arrested him at a North Phoenix cigar shop. (There's only one cigar shop at Tatum and Shea that we know of -- Ambassador Fine Cigars).

If that's really the way it went down, the guy has definitely seen too many movies.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.