N.J. adviser charged with posing as police officer in botched robbery

A licensed insurance agent in New Jersey was arrested last week after a 1½-year-long investigation into a robbery charged the agent and an accomplice with identifying themselves as law enforcement officers and wearing police-style badges during the alleged attempted robbery.

The agent, Anthony Naso, 27, who resides in the shore town of Toms River, was arrested last Wednesday and charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and impersonating a law enforcement officer, according to a statement from the Bergen County prosecutor’s office.

Naso, who doesn’t have a license to sell securities but does have an insurance license, is described as a “financial adviser” in the police statement. Another man, Nicholas Polimeni, a 27-year-old tile worker, was also arrested in the matter.

Naso, who works in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, at Winston Financial, couldn’t be reached Tuesday morning by phone or email.

On the night of Sept. 11, 2020, East Rutherford police responded to a disturbance reported by the victim of a robbery, according to the police charges against Polimeni, which a police spokesperson said were identical to those filed against Naso. Three men had grabbed the victim on the stairs outside the front door of his house and identified themselves as police.

The victim was at first cooperative but when he asked to see their police badges, the suspects ignored him and tried to zip-tie his hands behind him. The victim eventually resisted and cried for help, according to the charges. The suspects then fled in cars. Naso was later identified from camera footage pulled from the victim’s doorbell camera.