Hoax Cop Pleads Guilty

The Chalfont police officer accused of faking his own shooting pleaded guilty in Bucks County Court in Doylestown on Tuesday.

Jon Cousin, of New Britain, pleaded guilty to official oppression and making false reports to law enforcement, and "no contest" to possessing an instrument of crime.

Calkins Media court reporter Laurie Mason Schroeder reports that Cousin's sentencing has been postponed for 60 days so a mental health report and pre-sentence investigation can be completed.

Cousin's attorney, Michael Applebaum, described the Aug. 27 incident as the result of years of deteriorating mental health.

“Clearly, this was a cry for help,” the lawyer said.

Read what Appelebaum said in court - and what the judge had to say to Cousin - in Mason Schroeder's full story.

Cousin reported the shooting shortly after 3 a.m. on Aug. 27, radioing dispatchers to report that he had been shot during a traffic stop.

But police who rushed to aid their colleague found no evidence of the maroon Oldsmobile Cutlass that supposedly had driven off with the assailants inside - no tire tracks, no disturbed gravel in the parking lot of the Lenape Valley Swim Club on Westview Avenue where the shooting supposedly had taken place.

Responding officers also noted that Cousin did not have his bulletproof vest on when they pulled up to the scene.

The three bullet casings found at the scene did not match the .380 revolver slug later found to be lodged in the officer’s bullet-proof vest, investigators said.

Instead, the three casings matched the officer’s service pistol.

Related Stories:

• Officer Accused of Faking Shooting Waives Preliminary Hearing
• Hearing for Chalfont Cop Continued
• Preliminary Hearing For Chalfont Cop Set for September 6
• DA: Chalfont Officer Faked Shooting
• Chalfont Police Officer Shot and Wounded