LENOIR, N.C.,None — Police said a local woman pretended to be a detective with the Lenoir Police Department.
Police said Anastasia Brown claimed she was Detective Jessica Wesson on three occasions.
Wesson said she had never heard of Brown.
"(I'm) curious to why they used my name and how they came up with that," she said.
Police said Brown told victim Christina Thorne she was the detective handling an investigation after thousands of dollars in property were stolen from her home.
"I was more concerned for the victim because she was led on to believe that we had been working her case for two weeks, and we hadn't," Wesson said.
The theft happened while Thorne was on vacation. When she got back, police said, the person who was watching her house told her police were investigating and he put her in touch with Brown.
"I think she was trying to cover up the other crime -- the bigger crime that had occurred," Wesson said.
Police said at the time, no one had contacted their department so there was no police report about the theft. They said they have recovered some of the stolen property since then but haven't arrested anyone yet.
Brown is charged with three counts of impersonating a law enforcement officer and could face additional charges.
Eyewitness News tracked down Brown on Wednesday. She said she didn't want to talk without speaking with an attorney first.