"New York Airport ID Alert"

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

AIRPORT I.D. ALERT 
By MURRAY WEISS 
The New York (NY) Post


Airport security will be cracking down on cars with fake dashboard parking
permits after a brazen real-estate developer parked his new Porsche at JFK
with a bogus ID card - and then pretended to be a cop when authorities tried
to tow it, sources said. 

Law-enforcement sources said the Port Authority has directed its cops, NYPD
traffic agents and Homeland Security personnel patrolling the airports to
scrutinize all parking permits extra carefully from now on - because phony
ones can be used by terrorists. 

The heightened security was prompted by Sunday's arrest of Eddie Sitt, 35, a
scion of a real-estate family. 

Sitt was busted outside JFK's American Airlines terminal shortly after he
illegally parked his 2004 Porsche outside the departure drop-off entrance at
about 10 a.m. 

He was accused of brushing aside a traffic agent by claiming to be "on the
job" - undercover police slang - and then leaving his car with the bogus
parking card, supposedly issued by a federal agency, on his dashboard. 

A sharp-eyed PA cop who came by moments later ordered the car towed after he
noticed the suspicious parking placard - supposedly issued by the "Federal
Law Enforcement Group" and bearing the image of an American Eagle and the
Porsche's license plate number. 

As the car was being put on the tow truck's hook, Sitt emerged from the
terminal. 

He told the tow-truck driver and the cop to stop and tried to convince them
he was a lawman, authorities said. 

He allegedly showed a gold badge supposedly issued by the federal agency
that gave him the parking permit, and claimed he was a "federal agent," who
had attended "the Police Academy" and worked with "Capt. Duffy at the 101st
Precinct." 

The cops didn't buy Sitt's claim and charged him with criminal possession of
a forged instrument and criminal impersonation. 

He faces up to seven years in prison. 

Sitt also carried other questionable identification - including an expired
identification card from the "City Of New York Police Reserve," cops said. 

Law-enforcement officers could find no organization with the name Federal
Law Enforcement Group or City of New York Police Reserve. No Capt. Duffy
could be found at the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway, Queens. 

A Police Reserve group solicits funds from donors who wish to help law
enforcement agencies but cops could not immediately find a connection
between Sith and that organization. 

Sitt claimed he received the shield because he donated money to the bogus
federal group. 

Sitt's lawyer, Leslie Nizen, did not respond to several calls seeking
comment. 

Sitt is one of three sons involved with their father, Barry Sitt, in
real-estate companies. 

The family recently purchased the old Knickerbocker Hotel - now known as Six
Times Square - for $160 million, and the nine-story New York Gallery
Building at 24 W. 57th St. for $41 million.


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