Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Fake Cop Finally Got Arrested - The Michael Scaletta-Teates Story

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

In 2025, Michael Scaletta-Teates of Washington state goes to great lengths to pretend to be a police officer- outfitting his car with red and blue emergency lights, wearing a ballistic-style vest and badge, and appearing at crime scenes.

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So this story starts with this guy, Michael. And Michael is 49 years old, and he's living in Washington State. And apparently Michael really, really wants to be a police officer. So much so that he's willing to lie about it. Now, here's the thing, though, he can't actually become a police officer because he's actually a convicted felon. for some past crimes he committed. But one day in 2025, that all changes,

because he gets a job at a security company as a security guard. And he's supposed to work around the local Salvation Army, which is probably a good, steady gig for him. But, you know, he's just a security guard, not a cop. Now, at some point, for whatever reason, he decides he's going to cosplay as a police officer, like a real police officer. And he gets a fake police badge that looks real, he gets body armor, a tactical vest, he gets a swat patches sewn onto his clothes.

And he also gets an unmarked Ford Explorer with flashing police-looking lights installed and a siren. And so then he just starts cosplaying as a cop. Not just while he's working his security guard job at the Salvation Army, but he'll like apparently listen on his police scanner for crimes being reported in the area. and then he'll just like show up to the crime scene and act like he's from a neighboring police department and he'll try to assist the real officers as backup. Like one night, a 7-Eleven employee

calls police to come and trespass someone. And I guess Michael hears about this on his police scanner and he just like shows up pretending he's going to help mediate the situation. And you can see him there on the other officer's body cam. And when he shows up to these places, no one questions it. Like, I don't know, he looks like a cop, he talks like a cop.

Sometimes there are other cops there on the scene and they don't second guess him. And this goes on for months. And I guess people in the area really believe that he's an officer that's in the neighborhood, just, you know, keeping it safe and checking things out. But then, finally, it all starts to go wrong. Because one night, local police are out responding to a small fire that was reported in a parking garage. And I guess Michael hears about this report on his police scam. or whatever, but he finds out about it and he decides that he's gonna go play cop and check it out.

So he drives over to the scene of the incident and he pulls up in his unmarked vehicle and his fake police lights are turned on and everything. And he gets out of his car and there are other real police officers there. And before any of them say anything, he tells them that he's with Edmonds. Edmonds is a different police department than what these guys are with. And Michael, he's in his full police uniform with his tactical, gear and his pistol and his holster. So he looks legit enough to these guys, I guess. But then some of the officers kind of start feeling a bit skeptical about Michael. I guess by the way he's carrying himself and the way he's responding to things is just not typical of a real officer.

So one of these cops at the scene tells him, you know, thank you, but we don't really need your help. So Michael gets back in his fake cop car and he starts to drive back to the Salvation Army. because I guess he's supposed to be at work. But that officer back at the scene is still skeptical about who this random cop was that showed up from another jurisdiction. So he gets in his car and he decides to follow Michael to see where he's going. And he follows him all the way back to the Salvation Army, and he sees that he appears to work security there. So from this body cam footage, it looks like the officer starts chatting with him at one point.

How long have you been to detectives? About two years. Cheers. And after a quick chat, the officer leaves, still feeling a bit skeptical. So then, this officer has a discussion with some of the other officers, and they talk about their interaction with the guy, and they review some of their body cam footage, and they start thinking, yeah, something's definitely off about this cop.

Not only that, but one of them calls up Edmund's police department and asks them if Michael works there, and of course they say they never heard of him. So these officers are like, this guy's a fake cop. Let's go get him. So the next day, an officer shows up to the Salvation Army while Michael is working security. And he pulls him aside because he's got a lot of questions for him. I was talking to some other guys. So you work for Edmund's PD?

I do. Yeah, and this is a part-time gig. Gotcha. Do you have your commission card with you today? Yeah, give me a minute. Now, a commission card is what every police officer would have. So Michael should have one if he were a real cop. So of course he doesn't have one.

so now this cop is 100% sure that he's a fraud. But then this other cop pulls up, and with the two cops there, they ask him a very important question. Is it a loaded firearm that you have with you, Mr. Scoletta? Correct. Okay, can you put your hands on the car, please? And so they detain him, because they had looked up his record, and as I mentioned in the beginning, Michael is actually a felon, and he's not allowed to have a firearm. Now, here's the weird part.

At this point, Michael is busted. Game over, they're never going to be able to verify that he's a real cop because he's not a real cop. But, for whatever reason, he keeps the lie going. Like he keeps trying to fool these real cops into thinking that they've made a mistake. Can you call my... Yeah, we can take care of all that. What agency do you say you're right? Edmonds?

You with Edmonds. Edmonds. And these cops just straight up call his bluff. So we might have called Edmonds last night. The sheriff? What? We might have called Edmonds, PD. last night?

Yeah. Not on the payroll. Say it again? You're not on the payroll or Edmonds PD. And even after they call his bluff, he still keeps the lie going. Calling even with Edmonds. Almost 18 months now. 18 months?

Yeah. And so, no matter what these cops throw at this guy, he keeps trying to just bullshit his way out of it. And he speaks with so much confidence like I almost believed him. I worked in the Eastern Prison. We all knew what they would go. We knew what was going on. We knew the feds were there. So anyway, bam, the officers officially arrest him,

and they throw him in the back of the police cruiser. And when they search his car, they see that he has some fake cop gear, but he also has a fake firefighter helmet. This is insane. Like, the shirt is in the plastic. This reflective vest is straight from galls. Yeah, like he's got a firefighter helmet, too?

Jesus Christ, man. So I guess they're thinking that he has plans to impersonate a fireman as well if he hadn't got caught. Oh, but here's the craziest part. Then one of the officers calls Michael's wife. I'm so confused right now. What part is confusing? This whole thing. I mean, I thought that he went to work last night.

Does he work at Salvation Army? What? Does he work at the Salvation Army in Bremerton? No, no. He's supposed to be Bremerton kids up. Doing what? Well, I know he's a reserve police officer. That's what he told me.

That's the work he's doing. So apparently, Michael had also been lying to his own wife about being a police officer. Like he would leave for his security job every day at the Salvation Army, and he would tell his wife that he's actually going to work on the police force. So I'm sure that'll be fun for him to sort out when he gets home. And so anyway, here's his mugshot. And as of right now, he hasn't actually been. been to trial for this yet, and at this point he has pleaded not guilty to impersonating a police

officer. So I guess this is all technically alleged, even though we just saw it on video.