By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A former top aide to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been charged with impersonating a top-ranking NYPD officer in nearly two dozen prank calls to people including former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Retired NYPD Sergeant Manuel "Manny" Lopez, 55, was hit with multiple orders of protection, including one barring him from contacting Giuliani, during his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday.
He was charged with four dozen counts of criminal impersonation and dozens of counts of aggravated harassment, both misdemeanors. He was released after posting $10,000 bail, his lawyer said.
Lopez allegedly placed more than two dozen phone calls to a host of NYPD top brass, union officials, and elected officials all over the city between Oct. 28, 2010 and Mar. 9, 2011.
In some cases, he would claim to be NYPD Chief Michael Shea, who's the commanding officer of the Police Commissioner's office, and request a callback. In others, he would tell those on the other end of the line to come to Shea's office.
Lopez, who had once served in the commissioner's office, also posed as an NYPD Detective from the Central Park Precinct as well as a Citibank staffer and a nonexistent editor from a city newspaper.
Among those granted orders of protection against Lopez include Giuliani, Executive Director of the NYC Police Foundation Gregg Roberts, city Department of Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro and others.
Lopez told prosecutors the calls began as a joke, but "thereafter became an obsession," according to the criminal complaint.
A source said Lopez and Kelly had a falling out during the 2004 shooting of unarmed Brooklyn teen Timothy Stansbury, after Kelly was angered that he hadn't been informed of the situation immediately after it unfolded.
After retiring from the force several years ago, Lopez took a civilian job with Coastal Developments, LLC, an entertainment, casino and gaming development company, where he worked until Monday, according to his criminal complaint.
Phone records allegedly show that Lopez used his company phone to place the calls. The company did not return calls for comment.
Lopez's attorney Seth Rosenberg said his client "served and protected the people of the city of New York with great distinction for 21 years. When the dust has settled, his good name and reputation will be untarnished by these events."
A source familiar with the case said the charges are a "sad story" and that Lopez has been suffering from 9/11 related stress. The source said Lopez did not mean any harm to his former colleagues or the civilians he called and impersonated.
An NYPD spokesman did not return calls for comment.
With Murray Weiss
