Authorities have arrested a Level 3 sex offender just out of prison who they said impersonated a police officer to lure a teenage boy into his van and sexually assault him in Brooklyn.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the arrest of Steven Pappas Thursday.
Police were led to the suspect based on several tips, sources told NBC New York. One of those tips came from a detective who had arrested the man before.
Pappas, 50, is a Level 3 offender who just been released from prison this month after a burglary case, according to state records. His sex abuse arrest was from 2000 and involved a 14-year-old, NBC New York has learned.
Police tried to pull over Pappas on Thursday and there was a brief chase in Sunset Park before he was apprehended.
Pappas was charged Thursday night with criminal sex act, sex abuse, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal impersonation, unauthorized use of a vehicle and endangering the welfare of a child.
It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney. His last address listed with the state was a homeless shelter on East 30th Street in Manhattan.
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Police said the 15-year-old victim was approached by his attacker at about 9:30 a.m. Friday after he threw an empty chips bag onto the subway platform at the 53rd Street and Fourth Avenue station in Sunset Park.
The man was in regular civilian clothing, police said, but he showed a police shield and ordered the victim to go with him.
The boy followed the man to a white van and got in, police said. He drove the victim to the area of 92nd Street and Dahlgren Place in Bay Ridge, where he threatened him with a syringe, according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
The man then sexually assaulted the teenager, police said.
He then drove the victim to 38th Street and Fourth Avenue in Greenwood Heights, and dropped him off there, according to police.
