Failing to appear for his scheduled court appearance has landed a 25-year-old Brownsville man in jail, officials said.
Noe Enrique Paz was scheduled to appear Jan. 1, before 197th state District Judge Adolfo E. Cordova Jr., where he was going to be officially arraigned on a charge of impersonating a public servant, but he failed to show up in court, state court documents reflect.
A warrant for his arrest was issued and he was arrested Thursday and is being held in a Cameron County jail.
Court documents reflect his arraignment is know scheduled for March 7.
A Cameron County jury indicted Paz on Dec. 7 on one count of impersonating a public servant. According to the indictment, Paz “attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the complainant by getting behind the complainant’s motor vehicle and activating flashing red and blue lights on defendant’s motor vehicle.”
Brownsville police arrested Paz June 7, 2022, for trying to pull over a driver flashing lights on his car, police said in an earlier interview.
A motorist told Brownsville police that Paz was trying to get him to pull over, said Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for Brownsville PD. The police dispatchers noticed that none of the police force’s patrol officers were trying to make a traffic stop and asked the driver for the license plate number.
That plate belonged to a Chevrolet Malibu and the Criminal Investigations Unit was able to get the address of owner of the vehicle, Sandoval said.
As the investigators arrived at the suspect’s home, they saw the Malibu pull up to the home and Paz got out of the vehicle, police said. They also noticed red and blue lights on the vehicle’s visor.
Paz was questioned by the investigators and placed under arrest.
Sandoval said the police department does not use Chevrolet Malibus and that only vehicles with clear law enforcement identifiable marks are allowed to make traffic stops.
