Alleged fake cop arrested

A Kingfisher man who allegedly impersonated a police officer and held a stranded motorist at the side of the road at gunpoint Jan. 13 was arrested last Tuesday by Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office.

James Leroy Farmer, 28, 1985 E. Robberts Ave., remains jailed on $12,000 bond after pleading not guilty Wednesday in Kingfisher County District Court to three felony counts, impersonating a law enforcement officer, kidnapping and feloniously pointing a firearm, and two misdemeanors, transporting a loaded firearm in a vehicle and threatening to perform an act of violence. He is scheduled to return to court at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 14.

According to an affidavit signed by Deputy Mike Shults, in the early morning hours of Jan. 13, Farmer allegedly pulled in behind Brandon Kuehn, whose truck was stuck in the ditch along Shafenberg Road about a half mile south of Will Rogers Drive.

Farmer allegedly showed a badge and identified himself as a Big 4 Fire Department volunteer and Dover Police Officer and said he had been dispatched on another call when he came across Kuehn’s stranded pickup truck, according to Shults’ affidavit.

Kuehn said over the course of the roadside encounter, Farmer allegedly started smoking a pipe which Farmer said contained “ice,” called a wrecker to come pull Kuehn’s pickup truck out of the ditch even though Kuehn said a friend was coming, then pulled out a handgun, chambered a round, pointed it at Kuehn, ordered him to turn on his flashers and threatened to shoot him in the knees if he tried to run, according to the affidavit.

Farmer also allegedly wrote a “warning” on a piece of paper, signing it as Badge No. 137 and followed Kuehn to his home after the wrecker service pulled the truck out of the ditch.

Farmer came in voluntarily to the sheriff’s office two days later in response to a phone call from Shults and allegedly said that he told Kuehn he had been trying to get on with either the Big 4 Fire Department or the Dover police.

Farmer allegedly said that the handgun was under his seat and Kuehn tried to grab it, which was when Farmer told Kuehn if he tried that again, he would shoot him in the knee, according to Shults’ affidavit.

Farmer also allegedly admitted having a “pipe” in his car that was “probably” the pipe Kuehn said he saw him smoking, according to the affidavit.

Farmer allegedly provided Shults with a handgun from the glove compartment of his car, which contained a loaded magazine, and which was later identified by Kuehn as the weapon that had been pointed at him on the roadside.

Shults unloaded the gun and bagged both it and the magazine as evidence, according to the affidavit.

If convicted, Farmer faces possible sentences of two years on the impersonation charge, up to 20 years for kidnapping and up to 10 years for pointing a firearm.

The kidnapping charge is based on the allegation that Farmer held Kuehn at the side of the road and threatened to shoot him if he tried to run.