Bay Area military veteran arrested for posing as cop, bounty hunter: Sheriff

(SANTA ROSA, Calif) — A Northern California military veteran was arrested for posing as a cop and a bounty hunter, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Gregg Jackson, 40, from Santa Rosa, California, was arrested earlier this week for impersonating a law enforcement officer, specifically “using a vehicle outfitted with red and blue emergency lights and was identifying himself as a bounty hunter,” the sheriff’s office announced on Tuesday.

Jackson had been on a pretrial release for felony charges and “as part of the terms of his release, he was subject to search of his home and vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said.

While officials were searching his home, they said they found “several items that falsely identified him as a police officer.”

“During the investigation, it was determined that he was not licensed to operate as a Fugitive Recovery Agent,” officials said.

Jackson was arrested and booked for impersonating a police officer and two violations of his pretrial release conditions, officials said.

As of Friday, he remains in custody at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility and bail has been set at $56,000, officials said.

The case remains under investigation and officials said they believe Jackson “may have unlawfully acted as a Fugitive Recovery Agent in multiple states.”

The suspect’s friend, Tim Sutton, told San Francisco ABC station KGO he was “completely blown away” when he heard the news of Jackson’s arrest. He also revealed that Jackson is a military veteran and has post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The idea of Gregg doing that with malicious intent does not sound like the Gregg I know, he’s an easy-going guy to talk to,” Sutton told KGO.

Jackson has previously been arrested for driving under the influence, assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon with a prior conviction, according to court records.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. local time, according to court records.

The public defender’s office representing Jackson did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.