Update: Felon Accused Of Impersonating Police Officer

If you ask people, in Mayflower, they'll likely tell you there's plenty of police monitoring along Highway 365, but Faulkner County sheriff's deputies says one of those cops was a fake.

"It's kind of shocking around here nothing exciting like that happens around here too much," says Woody Hensley who lives in Mayflower.

A deputy arrested John Brinkley, after allegedly seeing the man assisting a police officer with a traffic stop.

"He actually saw him in uniform, with the blue lights on, with a gun on his side and that's when he put him into custody," describes Lt. Matt Rice.

Along with posing as a cop, Lt. Rice says Brinkley is also charged with being a felon with a firearm. He says the gun Brinkley carried was the same type of gun carried by sheriff's deputies.

"That's how cops get bad names, things like this," says Lt. Rice.

Lt. Rice says deputies were tipped off last week by someone who saw Brinkley working with Mayflower police. Rice says the name alone set off red flags. Brinkley has had several run-ins with law enforcement. He was arrested in 2002 for check fraud. Deputies arrested him in 2007 twice, for failure to appear, and more check fraud. He was arrested again in 2008 for hot checks and credit card fraud.

"When we've arrested him out of this office and you turn around and see him on traffic stop with blue lights and a weapon to me that's not a good thing that's pretty bad," says Lt. Rice.

The Faulkner County Sheriff's Office says it's not clear in what way Brinkley was working with the department. The Mayflower Police Department hasn't said how long Brinkley worked with officers. The department has said only that their police chief is on paid leave pending this investigation.  

Brinkley faces charges of impersonating a police officer, being a felon in possession of a gun, and driving on a revoked or suspended license. He remains in custody at the Faulkner County Detention Center. The judge is refusing to allow him bond.