NEW YORK, June 27 (UPI) -- Police in New York said they arrested a man who posed as a U.S. service member to get a free bump to first class on a flight from the Dominican Republic.

New York Port Authority police said Rock Diaz, 22, arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport Friday wearing an Army uniform and he raised the suspicions of a customs official who noticed the insignia on the uniform did not match the rank Diaz claimed to hold, the New York Post reported Monday.


"If you knew anything about the military and you looked at him, you could tell he wasn't really a soldier," a police source told the Post.

Investigators said Diaz had pulled the same scam before, and on one occasion in December 2009 had been able to talk his way into the cockpit of a jet where he was photographed sitting at the controls of the plane.

Diaz was charged with second degree impersonation.