[News] [NM, USA] Police: Fake cop, real gun a bad combo

[Stephanie Stevens]

KRQE, NM, USA


Police: Fake cop, real gun a bad combo

Updated: Wednesday, 25 Nov 2009, 11:58 PM MST
Published : Wednesday, 25 Nov 2009, 11:38 PM MST

Reporter: Alex Tomlin
Web Producer: Bill Diven


[VIDEO]


ELDORADO, N.M. (KRQE) - She's got the lights, radar gun, and a real
gun, and police say she's pulling people over. The problem: she's not
a cop.

Mekah Gordon has been patrolling her neighborhood in Eldorado
southeast of Santa Fe for months. She was told to knock it off, but
didn't listen.

Gordon has made herself known to neighbors in Eldorado over the past few months.

A neighbor told KRQE News 13 he had a run-in with Gordon.

“She actually did pull me over and said, 'Don't go too fast; there are
children around here. I'm with the Neighborhood Watch,'" he said.

Neighbors who complained to Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said
Gordon would often stand beside the street pointing a radar gun at
them that they thought was a firearm. They also said she would yell at
them for not having their dogs on a leash.

Outcry from neighbors in July prompted Solano to send Gordon a letter
telling her to knock the antics off. But she apparently didn't.

In August she pulled over a driver on Old Pecos Trail. That man
claimed Gordon was driving erratically and even shouted at him that he
didn't use his turn signal.

He stopped his car and approached her. He also called 911

“I said let me see some ID, and she said, 'I'm retired,'" he told the
911 dispatcher. "She has like an NYPD old uniform patch in the front
window.”

Gordon's pickup truck also reportedly sported cop gear.

“Claiming to be a police vehicle," the 911 caller said. "It has a
megaphone on it, blue lights and an antenna.”

When the driver called her out on being a fake, she allegedly threatened him.

“It's alleged that Mekah Gordon placed her hand on her firearm that
she carries with her," New Mexico State Police Lt. Eric Garcia said.

That reported gesture is the basis of one of the criminal charges now
pending against her.

Gordon does have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but her Glock
pistol is just one more thing police say she was trying to use to look
like the real deal.

“Mekah Gordon refused to answer the question of what agency or even
show any kind of identification of where she allegedly worked for a
law enforcement agency," Garcia said.

Police did some checking and found out she was a volunteer officer in
New York where her main duty was directing traffic when called on.

“Gordon was never a sworn officer in the East Coast," Garcia said.

Garcia said Gordon was carrying a homemade ID card that said she was
with the State Police Special Investigations Division.

A grand jury indicted Gordon on charges of impersonating an officer,
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving.

A News 13 reporter knocked on her door Wednesday night, but her
husband said they were not interested in talking.

This isn't the first time Gordon has made headlines.

In 2000 she caused a stir when she took a year off with pay from her
job as a school teacher to have a sex change to become a woman.


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