Police impersonator recently released from prison | News

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) - A man, who detectives in Muskegon County say impersonated a police officer this weekend, was just released from prison last month.

Investigators say Dean Allen Dilts wore a baseball hat with "police" on the front to enter a home in Sullivan Township.

Dilts pulled a gun and and ordered the couple in the home to put on handcuffs, but one of them got away and Dilts left. He is wanted on charges of home invasion and felonious assault.

Detectives consider him armed and dangerous and say if you see him call 911. And if someone comes to your door claiming to be a police officer, know what to look for.

"We never do a warrant by ourselves. There'll be multiple officers, one if not more will be uniformed. If by chance it's a plain-clothed officer doing a warrant, there will be multiple identifications they will display, not just a badge," says Muskegon County Sheriff, Dean Roesler.

Roesler says Dilts left the home in Sullivan Township in a stolen SUV. Officers say the vehicle was stolen from the Ravenna pub. Dilts had gone there Friday night and played pool with several people, Including Darcy Hammond, one of the bartenders who heard about the home break-in.

"Dumbfounded. I was kinda scared, it creeped out. I had just played pool with him. I work here and knowing that maybe that he would come back in, what would I do? Odd, a weird feeling-- things like that don't usually happen in Ravenna," says Hammond.

Hammond says several of her customers talked about Dilts after hearing about the news. They remember him from a Newaygo County case in the late 1990s. in 1999, Dilts was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Carol Smith.

Dilts was in prison for that conviction until his release last month.