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"When the public trust is violated, these individuals will no longer serve as deputies whether they resign or not," said Durante.
"This job or any other job in law enforcement requires credibility and when you violate that, you are done," said the sheriff, who described Volpi as a "good" deputy who was well-liked within the department.
"If in fact he has fabricated a story, he has embarrassed this department and that is not fair to all of the good, hard-working people we have here," said Durante.
The incident for which Volpi was arrested began at about 9:30 p.m. on April 3 when Volpi called 911, identified himself as an off-duty deputy and reported that he had just been assaulted.
An ambulance and six patrol cars, all with their lights and sirens, responded to the scene in the 400 block of East Washington Street, according to Norristown Detective Raymond Emrich.
Volpi, who was found laying in the grass, reported to police that a young black man had flagged him down for assistance, according to the criminal complaint. When he stopped, Volpi told authorities, two more young black men and a young white man appeared. All four pulled him out of the 2005 Ford Explorer he was driving and punched and kicked him before fleeing down the Schuylkill River Trail, the complaint reports Volpi as saying.
Nothing, including Volpi’s wallet, which was in plain view on the center console of the vehicle,was taken from the SUV, according to the complaint.
Volpi was transported to Montgomery Hospital, where he was treated for a broken rib and other chest and leg injuries.
In their investigation, authorities interviewed a worker at the nearby sewer plant. That worker said that, just prior to the alleged assault, he observed two individuals sitting in the Explorer. He did not observe any additional people around the vehicle, according to the police report.
When Volpi came into the police station the following day, he gave a statement admitting he lied about the incident, said Emrich.
Norristown Police Chief Russell J. Bono said it was "unfortunate" that a fellow law enforcement officer would allegedly lie to police.
"We had a big police response to this incident," said Bono.
Volpi has since filed a report with Bridgeport police, alleging that the assault took place there.
According to a Bridgeport incident report, Volpi said he stopped the Explorer after one of two men walking on Ross Road called out his name. One of the men said that they had all gone to school together. After talking for several minutes, Volpi told Bridgeport police, one of the men punched him in the ribs, according to the incident report.
Volpi said he got back into his car, drove to Norristown and reported to police there that the incident had taken place in Norristown, according to the incident report.
