Stamford man allegedly impersonated cops and others on social media

STAMFORD — A Stamford man allegedly impersonated Fairfield County police officers and their spouses with fake social media accounts that he used to make sexual advances toward those victims' acquaintances and co-workers, according to a state prosecutor.

Deputy Assistant State's Attorney Laurence Tomaccio said Pasha Torkamani, 37, targeted officers, and the wives of officers, from the Norwalk, Stamford, Darien and Greenwich police departments as a part of a criminal impersonation scheme that stretches nearly a decade in some cases.

Torkamani was arrested three times over a monthlong period earlier this year, and once in 2019, on criminal impersonation charges stemming from investigations that started with a criminal complaint made to Norwalk police in September 2018.

In total, Torkamani is facing four counts each of second-degree harassment and criminal impersonation, as well as one count of second-degree stalking.

The new information on Torkamani's alleged targets surfaced during a hearing Wednesday when attorney Joseph J. Colarusso, who represents Torkamani, asked Judge Kevin Randolph to allow his client to go on a family vacation at the end of May.

Under Torkamani's current conditions of release, he is being held on home confinement. He is not allowed to leave his home without permission under these terms.

“Home confinement is not only very, very restrictive, but it's almost punitive” Colarusso said, noting that his client is only facing Class A misdemeanors in these cases.

“We're not asking you to change (the conditions of release), we're asking you to allow him to travel this one week with his wife and young children,” he said.

The court is expected to make a decision on the matter at Torkamani's next court date May 11.

According to a warrant for Torkamani's arrest, investigators learned that a Norwalk police officer was being impersonated on a social media account, which was then being used to send harassing and sexually explicit messages to that officer's friends and family.

Torkamani was later arrested after an investigation identified him as the culprit in the case, the warrant said.

In fall 2021, Stamford police learned from the wife of a Stamford police officer that she was the victim of a similar case of criminal impersonation.

After a lengthy investigation, police pinpointed Torkamani, who was arrested on similar charges in Norwalk in 2019, Conklin said. With a search warrant, police seized evidence that they say links Torkamani to the impersonation.

Using information found on seized equipment, police were able to connect Torkamani to similar criminal impersonation cases in Greenwich and Darien.

Torkamani, who was friends with most of the people he impersonated, used a combination of publicly accessible and private information to pose as the victim on various social media and other internet-based platforms, according to his arrest warrants.

“In some circumstances, the victims have expressed that Torkamani's actions have caused them duress and embarrassment for years, as they have had to explain to their spouses, family members, friends and co-workers that it was not them who had been making the illicit online contact,” Sgt. Sean Boeger of the Stamford Police Department said at the time of Torkamani's fourth arrest in February.

A motive for the alleged criminal impersonations remains unclear, Boeger said at the time.