Woman accused of impersonating officer

Deputies arrested a Shelbyville woman after she told them she was a state police officer during a routine traffic stop.

Lindsay M. Callahan, 33, was arrested on charges of impersonating a public servant, a felony, and false identity statement, a misdemeanor.

Deputies were patrolling Sunday afternoon in the area of State Road 135 and Fry Road when they observed a car traveling north at 55 mph in a 45 mph zone. They initiated a traffic stop in a restaurant parking lot off State Road 135, according to a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report.

The driver, later identified as Callahan, immediately told deputies, “I am a cop.” They asked her where she worked and she said, “ISP,” as in Indiana State Police. As deputies talked with her, she appeared nervous as if she was doing an undercover operation. They asked her if they were interfering with an undercover operation, and she said it was a long difficult story, according to the report.

She then gave deputies another name. “If you replace my last name with Dinomav, it will all make sense,” she said.

Deputies ran both names she gave them and received a return under Lindsay Callahan that she was a valid driver. They then searched online court records, which showed she had multiple felonies, including burglary with a deadly weapon and auto theft.

Deputies began asking more pointed questions, such as whether the state police pay her an annual salary, to which she said, “yes.” They asked how long she had been with the state police, and she said she was “deputized” a long time ago. They asked her who her direct supervisor was, and she did not answer. They asked her how she could be a police officer with multiple felonies on her record, and she said it was part of her undercover assignments with the state police, the report shows.

Callahan offered to write down her state police badge number but paused as she was writing and said she could not remember it because it had been so long since she was hired. Deputies asked her if she had a badge or any kind of identification showing that she was an officer with the state police, and she said, “No, they don’t give us those,” according to the report.

Deputies called Indiana State Police and asked if they had ever heard of a Lindsay Callahan or “Makiva Alan Dinomav” and they said no.

Deputies arrested Callahan for impersonating an officer and gave her a citation for speeding. She was taken to the Johnson County jail, where she is held on $2,400 bond.