A Richmond man was arrested this week in San Rafael for allegedly impersonating a California Highway Patrol officer while driving around in a car he had embellished with CHP decals. The ruse almost worked when the car was spotted by San Rafael police officers, who noticed the vehicle on Wednesday about 10:40 a.m. in the area of Bellam Boulevard and Interstate 580 in San Rafael. It appeared to be an older model CHP Chevrolet Camaro police car, used by the agency nearly a decade ago. “At first, the officer thought it was an actual CHP car and waved toward the driver. While waving, they noticed the driver was not wearing a uniform and did not appear to be a CHP officer,” San Rafael police said. The officers were suspicious and made a U-turn to check out the car. The decals looked official but the car didn’t have proper proper license plates and wasn’t registered with the state law enforcement agency. The officers pulled the car over, and during an investigation the driver admitted putting the decals on the car and “acknowledged that the public would believe it was a police car.” He told them the vehicle was for a car show, but the officers determined it had recently been removed from an impound yard for expired registration. Matthew Bennett Connolly, 25, was arrested on suspicion of impersonating a police officer while driving in a vehicle modified to resemble a police car and booked into the Marin County Jail. The vehicle was impounded. The CHP was contacted and advised of the incident, and San Rafael police are investigating whether there have been recent reports of the suspect or vehicle being involved in false impersonation cases. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call San Rafael Police at (415) 485-3000. Tips can also be made online at srpd.org/tips.