Police impersonator gets year in prison

A 44-year-old Morgan City man was sentenced in district court to a year in prison after pleading guilty to impersonating a police officer.
Gilbert Howard was arrested two weeks before Christmas last year after being accused of stealing $140 from a woman to whom he claimed he was an undercover cop. He was arrested Dec. 11 and charged with theft of under $300 and impersonating a peace officer.
Morgan City police said he told them he had knowledge of a major drug deal that was about to go down near Lake End Park. Police said they met him in the parking lot of the old Lakeside Supermarket where he directed them to a woman inside of a vehicle who he said knew of the meth deal that was about to take place.
When police interviewed the woman in the car, they were given a different story, according to Howard’s arrest affidavit.
She told police she had been told by Howard that he was an undercover cop and she had been recorded selling drugs and she had to set someone up who is selling drugs if she wanted to stay out of jail, the affidavit said. She said she withdrew $100 from an ATM and gave Howard a total of $140 after he said she had to do that or go to jail, the affidavit states.
She said that at some point Howard told her that they would buy some crack and smoke it together, the affidavit states. She said she told Howard she wasn’t smoking crack at which time he called the police, the affidavit states.
Police said that upon questioning Howard further, he acknowledged he had the victim’s money but claimed she had given it to him without his asking for it. He was then arrested and the victim got her money back, according to the affidavit.
Court records show over a dozen arrests of Howard by Morgan City police since 1990 on charges that include drug offenses, disturbing the peace, battery, weapons violations, theft and criminal damage to property.
Assistant district attorney Curtis Sigur told District Judge Edward Leonard Jr. that the state was dropping the theft charge.
Howard was sentenced June 9.