Richmond man accused of kidnapping, impersonating officer in Jackson County
JACKSON COUNTY, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – A Richmond man is facing several felony charges after deputies arrested him Sunday in McKee, according to an arrest citation.
Deputies responded to a gas station for a possible domestic incident and found 25-year-old Mark Lawrence Bernardo II sitting in a vehicle at the pumps. The citation says Bernardo claimed to be a Richmond Police officer when deputies approached him.
During an interview, a woman told deputies that she and her husband had accepted a ride from Bernardo in Richmond. According to the citation, she said Bernardo had guns, pulled her hair, inappropriately touched her and refused to let her out of the vehicle after leaving her husband inside a store.
Deputies wrote in the citation that Bernardo told them he was trying to help the woman by getting her away from what he described as an abusive situation. He also said he was taking her to Berea to get insulin.
According to the citation, Bernardo refused a blood test but told deputies multiple times that he “had just smoked pot.”
Bernardo is charged with kidnapping an adult, impersonating an officer, first-degree sexual abuse and operating a motor vehicle under the influence, according to the arrest citation.
