Is he a genuine Jewish convert or convict and con man?

Those were the main questions surrounding the saga of Rabbi Avraham Gross, who appeared in a New York court last week facing a slew of felony charges for posing as a police officer.

He pleaded not guilty.

What made the case "bizarre" - in the words of prosecutor Kenneth Thompson - was that Gross also had the name Roberto Eddy Santos, a former member of a Brooklyn gang called the Latin Kings. Between 1995 and 2005, Santos served a sentence in maximum security Sing Sing prison for violent robberies he committed while a gang member.

While in prison, according to news reports, Santos changed his ways. He supposedly converted to Chasidic Judaism, although sceptics are doubtful the conversion was authentic. His lawyer, Zakir Tamir, has not answered media queries.

According to the charges against him, once out of prison, Santos - by now "Rabbi Gross" - passed himself off as a member of an imaginary New York child abuse task force for the Chasidic community, and then as a policeman.

Santos allegedly even placed lights and a siren on his car and used them to pull over a bus for what he considered dangerous driving.