Police Officer Impersonator Charged With Stalking Actor

An LAPD reservist pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he stalked a 16-year-old actor from the television show “Saved by the Bell” while impersonating a police officer.

A Burbank Municipal Court judge also set a March 29 preliminary hearing for Eric Lee Purvis, 25, of La Verne, who faces three felony charges of stalking, impersonating a peace officer and illegal use of a police car, plus two misdemeanor weapons charges.

Purvis was released from custody after the judge also reduced his bail from $1 million to $500,000, which was posted by family members Tuesday, police said.

Burbank police arrested Purvis Sunday at the Burbank home of Richard Lee Jackson, who plays teen heartthrob Brian Parker on the long-running Saturday morning sitcom.

Purvis was wearing an LAPD uniform, complete with a loaded pistol, and driving an unmarked police car, officers said. He told Parker’s parents he wanted to question the actor about an assault that supposedly occurred the previous night in Hollywood, they said.

Jackson’s agent became suspicious of Purvis and notified police. When questioned, Purvis told the Burbank officers he was an LAPD reserve officer conducting an official investigation, but later said he was only trying to “play a joke” on the actor.

Burbank police arrested Purvis after LAPD officials told them Purvis is a “technical reserve” officer who can work inside a police station but is not authorized to carry a gun, conduct investigations or use a police car.

Neither Jackson nor his brother, also a TV actor, knew Purvis, police said, and it was not known how he obtained their address.

Det. Carl Costanzo, who is investigating the case, said police do not know if Purvis intended to harm the actor, or simply wanted to meet him.

“On the surface, it would seem to be a clear-cut case of stalking a TV star, but there’s more to it than that,” Costanzo said. “We just don’t know what it is yet.”