Man Charged for Impersonating an Officer, Stalking

WARWICK, RI — Warwick Police arrested Jonathan T. O’Brien Aug. 4 at 11:35 p.m., charging him with impersonating an officer and cyberstalking/cyberharrassment committed July 1.

Police also charged O’Brien with domestic violence and violation of a no-contact order occurring Aug. 4.

Police were alerted the man was allegedly impersonating an officer and cyberstalking July 1 when a woman spoke with officers at Warwick Police Headquarters, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive about the incident.

The woman, an Uber driver, said she had driven a fare who had made inappropriate comments and began harassing her, accusing her of stealing his medication.

She said that at 2 p.m.  that day, she had  picked  up the man, Jonathan Obrien, 29, of 1635 Craston St., Apt. 2, Cranston, RI, and taken him from Sonesta Suites and taken him to Cranston, then back to Sonesta Suites. During the ride, she said Obrien had made numerous sexual remarks and told her about a domestic violence case between himself and his girlfriend. She told Officer Charles Walker that she did not engage with him during the conversation because she was in fear for her life.

When she got to his destination, Obrien refused to get out of the car until she gave him her phone number. Panicked, she gave him her boyfriend’s number.

Starting at 2:36 p.m., she began receiving text messages calls and voice mails, which she was able to confirm were coming from Obrien’s number. When she didn’t respond, Obrien began accusing her of stealing his Adderall medication, and threatened to report her to Uber. Then, she said, he offered her $100 to bring the medication back to him.

Obrien then used another number to message her, posing as his girlfriend, whom he was forbidden from contacting. He then used a fourth number to send her a screenshot  of her Facebook profile, stating, “I see you,” which further frightened her, since he knew where she lived.

Impersonating an officer, multiple messages

The woman received more than 100 missed calls between 2:46 and 6:14 p.m., leaving 15 voicemails, asking for the pills back then threatening to report that she stole them. Finally, Obrien left a voicemail posing as a Warwick Police officer, but using his own voice.

Walker saved recordings of the voicemails onto a CD  for evidence, and also took several screenshots of the text messages for evidence. He then issued a warrant for Obrien’s arrest for cyberstalking/ cyberharassment, and impersonating an  officer.