Charges against man arrested for allegedly impersonating Deer Park PD officer dropped, docs show

DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) -- A 20-year-old man arrested for allegedly impersonating a Deer Park Police Department officer had charges brought against him dropped, court records show.

The records revealed Kaden Berriman was taken into custody on April 1, but the charge of impersonating a public servant comes after a December incident in which he allegedly called a coffee shop.

Documents show the location is Sycamore Grounds Coffee and Bakery in Deer Park.

"I bet if we have 50 calls a day, 45 of them are some type of spam call," said Jackie Spigener, owner of Sycamore Grounds Coffee shop.

Spigener said this specific call in November led her employee to send the suspect $780 through Cash App.

"This particular time, I guess the guy that was doing it was very convincing, and it scared him, and he didn't know what to do, and they threatened him that if he didn't send money, he would be part of this scam, of this investigation or whatever it was," said Spigener.

Court records revealed that the suspect's Cash App profile picture depicted him wearing a Deer Park PD officer's uniform.

Court records also showed that after serving a grand jury subpoena requesting specific Cash App names, investigators linked the funds back to Berriman.

Spigener said she's now reminding her team to be vigilant and says investigators think their shop may not be the only one impacted.

"I think they think other people could be involved, or they think other people have had this happen to them," said Spigener. "I'm glad it's to the point that they at least found the guy who had done this to our coffee shop."

Berriman's charges of impersonating a public servant and theft were dropped on July 1 after the court said it could not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but records show that the case is subject to refiling.