Man impersonates EMT worker to help prisoner escape

GARDNER, Mass. — State Police have charged a Lynn man with attempting to help a prisoner escape from custody by impersonating an EMS official.

Friday, MSP troopers arrested 75-year-old William Lessor at the North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner after prison staff grew suspicious when Lessor attempted to pick up that prisoner.

According to court records, on March 1, prison officials recorded a phone call between Lessor and prisoner Antonio Zappa.

Zappa asked Lessor to pick him up on March 18 and told him to wear an EMS uniform when doing so.

Zappa has been serving a sentence at NCCI after he was found guilty of financial crimes in 2012 related to his former company, New England Ambulance.

FOX25 obtained state records that show the EMS service was dissolved after Zappa's conviction for using the business to steal tens of thousands of dollars from a disabled man in Lynn.

According to Lynn Police records, that victim was William Lessor's brother, and police said interviews indicate Lessor and Zappa have had a relationship for nearly thirty years.

But when Lessor arrived at NCCI in Gardner Friday, investigators said prison staff grew suspicious of his "bright reflective jacket" and "gold EMS Deputy Chief badge."

When Lessor told prison staff he was there to transport Zappa to Boston Federal Court, employees called police, according to court records.

"I think that was the first red flag for them," Worcester Sheriff Superintendent David Tuttle told FOX25.

Tuttle said MSP troopers called him a few hours later to ask if Lessor had any relationship with the Worcester Sheriff's Office.

While being interviewed about his EMS uniform, investigators said Lessor also claimed to be a reserve deputy with the Worcester County Sheriff's Office.

According to state records, when troopers searched Lessor's car at the prison, they found police and fire radios, handcuffs, a baton, a Worcester County Sheriff's badge and ID, and homemade business cards.

"It's really scary that these folks are out there, impersonating law enforcement," Tuttle said.

Troopers arrested Lessor on charges of impersonating a police officer and escape/aiding a felon.

When FOX25 went to Lessor's Lynn home on Tuesday, he refused to comment on the charges.

State prison officials said Zappa has now been transported to federal custody, where he will begin a separate 36-month sentence for a conviction of defrauding twenty people out of nearly $7 million in an investment fraud scheme.

Cox Media Group