News article: https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/video-man-claims-hes-a-texas-officer-during-eddy-county-traffic-stop/ Officers report: On May 13th, 2024, I was patrolling the county of Eddy, New Mexico, in a marked New Mexico State Police (NMSP) unit. I was wearing my class A uniform, which clearly showed my badge of office. I assisted Eddy County Sheriff's Office deputy Andres Pintor, who was conducting a stop on a driver with multiple other males in the vehicle. While talking to the passengers of the vehicle, seeing if they could get a ride, one of the passengers said to Deputy Mathew Martinez, "How do you guys do dwi here?" when we both questioned what he meant, then the male proceeded to claim he was a trooper with Texas DPS. Deputy Martinez asked the male what his badge number was, and the male said he was not told to give that out, which we both thought was strange since it was an officer-to-officer conversation. From there, I asked the passenger to step out and identify himself, and I identified him as Michele Alex Veloz. I asked dispatch to see if Mr. Veloz was, in fact, a trooper. NMSP dispatch advised me that Texas DPS said they have no one by that name in their agency. So, I read Mr. Veloz his Miranda rights to ask him some questions, and he then began to continue saying he was stationed in Midland in that county, in Texas and had been employed with Texas for two months after I gave him multiple chances not to lie to me. I then placed Mr. Veloz under arrest for impersonating a Texas Trooper. While arresting him, Mr. Veloz also had a warrant out of Chavez County for a traffic infraction. I then transported Mr. Veloz to the Artesia detention center without further incident.