Tyler Woods, who is running to unseat 1st Ward Councilman Bob Weber in next Tuesday's municipal election, pleaded guilty in 2006 to impersonating a law enforcement officer, a Class A misdemeanor.
According to court documents, the incident occurred on the night of Feb. 24, 2006, in the area of St. Francis Court and St. Francis Drive, just outside the Taos city limits.
In the probable cause statement from the Cole County Sheriff's Department, Deputy Richard Worthington responded to a call from a man who reported his daughter was stopped by a driver in a white Dodge Durango after she failed to stop at a stop sign.
The girl told the deputy that an individual with a blue and white light pulled her over, came to the window, asked for her license and registration, and then let her off with a warning.
The deputy was eventually directed to a residence on St. Francis Court that had a vehicle matching the description of the Dodge Durango. At the residence, the deputy talked to Woods, who was 18 at the time. Woods acknowledged talking with the girl, but denied using the lights to stop her vehicle or asking for her drivers license.
A month later, Woods pleaded guilty and received two years of unsupervised probation, which he successfully completed. Woods was ordered not to participate in any first responder programs during that time.
While Woods does not deny the incident, he said he looks at it as a learning experience from which he has benefited.