Police: Fake cop, real gun a bad combo

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.