A Hudson Valley bar employee is accused of trying to extort money from a customer by impersonating a police officer.

According to Saugerties police, on Tuesday, a 26 year-old woman received a call from an unknown male, who identified himself as a police officer from the Saugerties Police Department. The caller threatened to arrest the woman, in reference to an alleged incident from the Pig Bar and Grill in Saugerties over the weekend.

The woman filed a complaint with the Saugerties Police Department. Saugerties Police Detectives conducted an investigation an allege that 26-year-old Steven P. Lewis of a Saugerties, a cook the Pig Bar and Grill, called the woman to intimate her and extort money.

Lewis used information from a Saugerties Police Detective’s business card to identify himself as a police officer, police say. He also is accused of using a phone application that made his call appear that it was placed by the Saugerties Police Department on the woman’s caller ID.

Lewis was arrested on Tuesday and charged with criminal impersonation of a police officer, a felony. He was arraigned in the Village of Saugerties Court and remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail, $10,000 bond.

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