Cabot man arrested for impersonating a deputy sheriff. A.K.A KF5OBS

[diyaudio]

Is this true ?

ABOT, Ark. (KTHV) - A Cabot resident was arrested on Tuesday on multiple charges including impersonating a law enforcement officer.

The Lonoke County Sheriff's Office and the Cabot Police Department arrested 27-year-old Sebastian Westerhold on Tuesday. Police had received a complaint stating that Westerhold had been acting as an officer, making fake money and giving minors alcohol.

http://www.thv11.com/news/local/cabot/cabot-man-arrested-for-impersonating-a-deputy-sheriff/112555210

[iampoor]

Certainly looks like him. We may have to wait a few years before seeing any new electronics videos or Miley Cyrus guitar covers.

[Bryan]

Seem to recall he was open about some mental health issues in the past. Perhaps off the meds?

[German_EE]

Sebastian has various issues to deal with in his life, most of them not good. Please can we be careful here?

[EEVblog]

So sad to hear this 
Sebastian blogged once talking about the issues he was facing in the hope it would help others 
http://web.archive.org/web/20150825052426/https://jaunty-electronics.com/blog/2015/08/blog-inactivity-depression-gone-wrong/

[diyaudio]

So sad to hear this 
Sebastian blogged once talking about the issues he was facing in the hope it would help others 
http://web.archive.org/web/20150825052426/https://jaunty-electronics.com/blog/2015/08/blog-inactivity-depression-gone-wrong/

I'm sorry about this, I hope he gets off with a warning from the authorities.  

[joseph nicholas]

This blogger seems to be more than just bi-polar.  He appears to have lost touch with reality if the allegations are true.  This is symptomatic of a type of schizophrenia.

[G0HZU]

Looks like he has a history of hassling his local police department to release certain files under the 'freedom of information'

See below for a series of demands he made in writing not long before he was arrested for having fake IDs and fake money etc.

https://contexte.aoc.arkansas.gov/imaging/IMAGES/DMS/CK_Image.Present2?DMS_ID=LCTGC991YSXERSAO9ND9K6ZAN1B5Z8

The first written demands he made to the local police dept are available on his website here:

http://jaunty-electronics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Amended_Complaint_w_Exhibits_Redacted1.pdf

What a mess... 

[G0HZU]

Bit bored so I had a rummage around inside the Arkansas County Court website and managed to find a pdf copy of his impersonation case notes. On paper it reads really bad...

Several x Class B Felony I (forgery)

Class C Felony (possession of forgery device)

plus two Class A Misdemeanors one of which is 'Criminal Impersonation II'.

If you look up the penalties for these offences then it's clear that he is in fairly deep shit. The court case notes give statements from the officers and quotes from witnesses and it's pretty clear that he's been faking driver's licences and probably money too. The court documents also show that he's also got 'previous' wrt faking IDs and has been investigated by the FBI in the past over fake IDs (farkin hell...) There's other stuff in the court notes that I won't repeat here.

Not sure if I'm allowed to link to the court files here, but it isn't difficult to get access on their website. Just search in the right places using a few keywords.

[vodka]

So sad to hear this 
Sebastian blogged once talking about the issues he was facing in the hope it would help others 
http://web.archive.org/web/20150825052426/https://jaunty-electronics.com/blog/2015/08/blog-inactivity-depression-gone-wrong/

I'm sorry about this, I hope he gets off with a warning from the authorities.

As that warning, he performed a serious crime  as the  suplanted of the deputy sheriff, and he has all the ballots for going to jail during 20 years(add all crimes).
The only that might to avoid the jail is that the judge declare as incompetent mental  so he would go to Asylum.

[G0HZU]

Keeping things in perspective, he's probably just faked a few IDs for himself and a few friends. He's probably supplied booze at a party to people he didn't realise were under 21. I suspect that the local cops already dislike him over the legal hassle he dished out to them over his claim to have legal access to some of their protected data and because he often pretends to be a police officer. There are people out there who like to modify their vehicles and pretend to be police officers and sometimes they take it too far. Having a fake sheriff ID is an example of taking it too far.

If he gets a prison term I doubt it will be a long one.

[German_EE]

Sebastian is the second person I have come across with Bipolar Disorder, the other is a close friend of the family. The old name for this condition is Manic Depression and people who have it switch (almost at random) between a low state where they are the most depressed person you have ever seen and a high state where they want to put all the world's troubles to rest. In a high state someone with Bipolar Disorder can have some pretty crazy ideas, ideas such as launching a pro se case against the local Police Department, so maybe this could explain some of his actions.

False IDs? Forgery? Alcohol to minors? Impersonating a police officer? No idea about those but diagnosed Bipolar Disorder would be a pretty good defense. One thing is sure, Sebastian needs help and he needs to be taking his medication on a regular basis, the staff at the jail will hopefully make sure that this happens.

[G0HZU]

I did find some newer court docs that list some extra (potentially very serious) charges brought against him. I don't think it's appropriate to list the extra charges here because of their nature (and they may be false). But it might be worth suspending any sympathy for him until this stuff is over. I suspect that the cops are trying to throw as much dirt at him as they can and hope some of it sticks in court.

[RGB255_0_0]

I just found that too and if true he needs sectioning for his own safety because he won't last long in prison.

[nctnico]

Sad story and it probably isn't going to end well.

[ebclr]

  Police State

[zapta]

Keeping things in perspective, he's probably just faked a few IDs for himself and a few friends. He's probably supplied booze at a party to people he didn't realise were under 21.

We need to remember that at this stage these are merely allegations and that he is innocent until proven guilty.

Our justice system can be too harsh. I hope the outcome will be fair and reasonable.

[joseph nicholas]

Its quite common in the US for the police to pile on fabricated charges and let the courts try to figure it out.  Police work is quite a secure and comfortable way that authoritarian type to get ahead.

[steverino]

I stumbled upon this when his youtube videos suddenly stopped and some quick google searches came up with his arrest.  I thought it was best not to bring this up in a public forum given that I certainly didn't know all the facts (I knew the charges, but that doesn't make it a fact).  By his own words, Sebastian was dealing with personal issues.  Let's not judge and I hope he's able to get through this.

update: I also recall that Sebastian had a lawsuit filed against the local police force a year or more prior to his arrest (over encrypted police communications).  If you read the court docs, you'll see he was viewed as a bit of a nuisance.  Now they want to clobber him.

[RGB255_0_0]

Well if he gets convicted having of child porn offences then he certainly will be clobbered.

[steverino]

Let's stick with the charges he has against him.  Why bring up child porn?

[RGB255_0_0]

It's listed on one of the charges if you Google his name.

Charges:   FORGERY 1ST DEGREEQ
CRIMINAL IMPERSONATION
CONTRIBUTING TO DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR
KNOWINGLY GIVE ALCOHOL TO MINOR 1ST

COMPUTER EXPLOITATION OF A CHILD
Bond:   $15,000.00

[steverino]

You're correct.  He's in some deep shit.

[zapta]

Its quite common in the US for the police to pile on fabricated charges and let the courts try to figure it out.  Police work is quite a secure and comfortable way that authoritarian type to get ahead.

Not just the police but also the DAs. Many of them use the 'tough on crime' approach to launch political careers.

[G0HZU]

If you read the court docs, you'll see he was viewed as a bit of a nuisance.  Now they want to clobber him.

Yup, that's my view on it and you can bet they searched very hard for any dirt they could find.

The impression I get is that he had a housewarming party that didn't exactly go to plan and (fairly feeble) complaints were made by a couple of guests including stuff about seeing him with fake money in his house. The cops turn up with an arrest warrant and then started digging for dirt. My impression from reading the court files is that they found something (as in three things?) on his computer that qualify as dodgy images. For all we know these weren't serious but they sure helped the cops with their case against him.

Presumably he's in the county jail awaiting trial and this seems to be dated for early January 2017.