CT man arrested for impersonating officer, battering teen

BROOKSVILLE (FOX 13) - A Connecticut man is under arrest in Brooksville for impersonating a police officer the day before Halloween, but he wasn't just wearing a costume.

It happened on October 30. Richard Bretton, 56 of Newtown, Connecticut allegedly approached a 17-year-old girl in a Walmart parking lot and told her he was an undercover officer.  

Police say that's when Bretton started making sexually explicit comments to the underage girl.

“A gentleman had approached her while she was parked in a vehicle in the parking lot, knocked on her window and identified himself as an undercover police officer,” said Detective Tracey Schofield. “At some point, he then reached in the vehicle, grabbed her in a sexual way."

A surveillance camera caught his Dodge Ram truck leaving the Walmart parking lot. Witnesses saw it as well. 

A witness said he saw what was happening, but didn't realize the severity of the situation until afterward.

“I'm really thankful, like I said, had I known what was going on I would've been down there,” Jerry Behringer said.  “You got sexual predators all over the world but this guy here is really going to hurt somebody someday."

Bretton’s truck is now in the hands of the Brooksville police, who will search it end-to-end. He is an ex-con with a long rap sheet and had recently driven to Florida after a falling out with his family back home.

“He admits he was in the parking lot. He admits he was near her vehicle but when it comes to the actual battery and impersonating the police officer, he's denying that," the detective said. 

Bretton is charged with impersonating a police officer and battery.  Additional charges are possible.