OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The chief investigator for the Oklahoma Veterans Affairs Department has been fired and is facing prosecution after authorities said that they found that he is an ex-convict and not a state-certified law enforcement officer.
Forty-one-year-old Steven B. Pancoast Jr. was charged Monday with impersonating a police officer, perjury and illegal possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. Authorities said Pancoast claimed that he was certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, but a representative for the agency says there is no record of Pancoast. He was fired March 13.
Court records show that Pancoast spent almost three years in prison in New Jersey after two arrests for larceny and a weapons offense.
Pancoast, who turned himself in Saturday and posted bail, has denied any wrongdoing.
According to a spokesman for Attorney General Scott Pruitt, all cases that Pancoast was involved in will be reviewed.