A 41-year-old man showed up at an East Memphis home, threatened to tear down the front door, then pulled a badge from his wallet and left four young children in tears before police later charged him with pretending to be a law enforcement officer. Jeremy Fields was arrested after the woman who answered the door said he forced his way toward her home and claimed he had official business inside.
According to the victim, Fields arrived at her home on October 15 alongside a man she identified as her former boss. As reported by WREG, Fields claimed he was there to check on the well-being of her brother’s wife and their child.
The victim told the station that when she said the people Fields was looking for were not at her home, he threatened to tear down the door and pulled a silver badge from his wallet. She said her four young children began crying as Fields yelled at her, and that after she said she would call police, the man accompanying Fields told her in Spanish that Fields was the police chief, a scene the station reported in detail from the victim’s account.
Police Say Badge May Have Bounty-Hunter Ties
Memphis police confirmed that a man was arrested after pretending to be an officer and trying to force his way into the East Memphis home with a fake badge, per the same account relayed to the station. Investigators said the badge Fields presented may have been a bounty hunter badge rather than a genuine police credential.
Officers also found documentation showing that Fields had once worked as a bounty hunter, though police said it remains unknown whether he still held that status at the time of the incident. Those two findings, the badge’s possible bounty-hunter origin and Fields’s past work in that field, were both attributed directly to police in the station’s report.
Tennessee law does grant bounty hunters certain authority to make arrests. A 2001 opinion from the Tennessee Attorney General states that an out-of-state bounty hunter must hold a permit or license meeting applicable requirements, and that state law allows a bounty hunter to arrest a bail jumper anywhere in Tennessee, including at that person’s residence. The opinion does not address whether Fields met those licensing requirements or had any legal authority in this particular encounter.
Misdemeanor Charges and a Court Date Ahead
Fields was ultimately charged with criminal impersonation of law enforcement and harassment, both of which are misdemeanors. He was released from jail on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court Friday, the station’s report noted.
The case leaves open questions about Fields’s current line of work and whatever business he believed he had at the home that day. For now, the only confirmed account comes from the victim and from police, as relayed in the original report.
