Van De Weghe retired from the Denver police department in 1989, but still habitually carried a badge in his wallet. Decades later, he was pulled over in Arapahoe county for failure to signal for a turn and not wearing his seatbelt. Van De Weghe flashed his badge and told the deputy he was currently employed as a police officer. The deputy asked a couple of follow up questions, and when Van De Weghe was unable to produce a commission card or give the name of his supervisor, he admitted to not actually being currently employed as a police officer. The deputy would later testify that he thought Van De Weghe was trying to get professional courtesy (I think he'd have been able to pull that off with most cops if he hadn't lied).
Van De Weghe was charged with Criminal Impersonation and Attempt to Influence a Public Servant. This deputy is apparently not someone to be trifled with!
After being convicted on both counts, Van De Weghe appealed. His argument was that Attempt to Influence a Public Servant proscribed essentially the same conduct as Criminal Impersonation. But in Colorado, the same behavior can violate multiple laws and you can be convicted of violations of all of them (unless one is a lesser included offense of the other, or unless one of the laws limits prosecution of the offense in some other way). In this case, the Court of Appeals held that the crimes have different elements, and that the general assembly didn't intend to limit one statute by enacting the other. Van De Weghe also tried to argue that only one of the statutes could be applied because Attempt to Influence is part of a comprehensive regulatory scheme, but that only tells us that Van De Weghe (or his lawyer) doesn't know what a comprehensive regulatory scheme is. The court didn't fall for it.
Both convictions stand. When I retire, I'm mounting my badge in a shadow box.
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