Magnolia man in fake cop case avoids jail

A Magnolia man who told investigators last year that he was dressed like a police officer because he was auditioning for a talent agency pleaded guilty Tuesday to impersonating a public servant in exchange for two years of probation.

Robert Sterling Wells, 40, was arrested June 23 in Tomball after residents there saw him walking around a vacant house in a police shirt, holster and badge.

Prosecutors said he first told neighbors that he was a police officer with a K-9 unit. When police showed up, he said he was a bounty hunter. When that story fell apart, he told police he was auditioning for a talent agency, and he was arrested.

“The community was not in danger,” said Harris County prosecutor Coby Leslie. “He wasn’t pulling people over or anything like that.”

On Tuesday, he appeared before visiting state District Judge Ruben Guerrero in tan cargo pants and a military themed Tshirt. Before entering a guilty plea, Wells said he had served in the U.S. Marines. If he successfully completes deferred adjudication over the next two years, he will not have a conviction on his record. If he is unsuccessful, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Wells, and his attorney Jerome Godinich, declined to answer questions as they left court.

Court records show Wells has pleaded guilty three times before to low-level thefts, and was arrested in 1996 for assault.