Advertisement Police: Fake cop went around warning college girls about Pittsburgh 'pimp house' kidnappings Share Shares Copy Link Copy

An Allegheny County man who claimed to be a law officer told female college students they were being targeted by criminals who wanted to take them to a Pittsburgh "pimp house," police said.Thomas Turpie, 69, of Etna, was awaiting arraignment Thursday on misdemeanor charges of impersonating a public servant and disorderly conduct.New Wilmington police said he began approaching the young women at Mugsies Coffee House near Westminster College on Feb. 16 and identified himself as an investigator for a Pittsburgh attorney, warning them about "black male students on campus who were criminals" who wanted to kidnap female students and force them to perform "sexual activities" at a "pimp house" on Liberty Avenue.Turpie "also told the students that when these black males were done with the females, they were murdered and their bodies thrown on the side of the roadway," police said in a written statement. "(Turpie) further claimed there were over 200 such cases where the mothers of the victims had filed missing persons reports but their daughters were already dead."Turpie claimed that he was there to warn female students about the danger and to refer them to a Pittsburgh attorney so the cases could be investigated, police said.Turpie indicated to the students that he had also visited the campuses of lndiana University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock University and Grove City College for the same purpose, police said.When the shop owner confronted Turpie, "he first claimed that he was a police officer," police said. "When he could not produce a badge or police ID, he then claimed he was working for the FBI and threatened the owner that she would be investigated by the FBI for interfering with his investigation."The attorney who Turpie allegedly referenced had no knowledge of his activities, police said.