Angry girlfriends say U.S. marshal’s a fake

updated 8:31 a.m. ET June 1, 2006

NEW YORK - To some, Richard Kudlik possessed the macho allure of a deputy U.S. marshal on a manhunt.

They say he had the badge, raid jacket, flashing lights on his Dodge pickup truck, even a gun. But the real U.S. marshals — and a chorus of angry women — say Kudlik was only acting.

Kudlik, 43, was arrested at his Port Jefferson, N.Y., home Wednesday after several ex-girlfriends outed him earlier this month on a Web site featuring a wanted poster. The site calls him a "lying, cheating U.S. Marshal impersonator" and reveals his true identity as a long-married maintenance man.

He pleaded not guilty to possessing a counterfeit U.S. Marshals Service badge and was released on $5,000 bail. His attorney did not return a phone call Wednesday.

Pamela Brown said she began dating Kudlik last year until she received an anonymous e-mail warning: "The man you're dating is not who he says he is."

She tracked down Kudlik's wife, who told her in a phone conversation they had been married 17 years.

Brown began networking online with other women who said they had been wronged by Kudlik, and on May 14 she launched the Web site off2hunt.com with photos of Kudlik. She estimates he used his phony persona to lure at least 10 other women into relationships in the past decade.

"I don't want another woman to go through what I went through," she said. "I hope this taught him a lesson and makes him get help. He's a sick person."

MORE FROM CRIME & COURTS

Crime & courts Section Front

1 shot in Md. hotel machine-gun shooting Knox upset, tired; gets family visit in prison 2 dead in barn fire at Ohio county fairgrounds Student charged in Binghamton U. professor's death Teen pleads not guilty in killing of brother Delayed Va. Tech alert ‘inexcusable’ N.Y. prof wrongly ID’d as suspect files suit Wis. man wanted in double homicides eludes police Crime & courts Section Front   Add Crime & courts headlines to your news reader: