A mug shot of suspect Steven Pappas, next to a police sketch released days before his arrest.

Police say they've apprehended the man who impersonated a police officer in order to lure a 15-year-old boy into his van and sexually assault him. Suspect Steven Pappas, 50, is a level 3 sex offender who was just released from prison this month after a burglary case. NBC New York reports that his sex abuse arrest was from 2000 and involved a 14-year-old. You'll recall from yesterday's report that a striking police sketch of the man (below) was released as investigators searched for him, and it looks like the sketch was right on the money.

“The sketch is excellent,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne tells the Daily News. "The picture is amazingly close. The sketch is so much like the photograph, they’re confident they have the individual." According to the News, Sgt. George Astras of the 72nd Precinct in Brooklyn matched the sketch to a picture of a convicted sex offender in a photo database. Police located Pappas while driving his van today in Bay Ridge, and when cops started pulling him over, he reportedly got out and ran, only to be collared after a short chase.

Pappas was dressed in street clothes when he allegedly approached the victim around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, on a subway platform at the 53rd Street and 4th Avenue subway station in Sunset Park. After seeing the teen throw an empty bag of chips onto the platform, investigators say he produced what appeared to be a police badge and ordered the teen to accompany him. The victim followed him to a white van and was driven two miles, where he was threatened with a syringe and sexually assaulted. Pappas then allegedly drove back to 38th Street and let the teen go.

In 2009, Pappas was arrested for "commandeering" a public lot and claiming it as a private parking lot, charging drivers to park there.