Marion Woman Impersonates Police Officer to Ward off Jealous Friend

Love hurts.

Sometimes you find yourself in the awkward position of losing your boyfriend to another woman. Sometimes the arguments between you and this other woman lead to a charge of impersonating a public official.

Marion Police Chief Harry Daugherty said he thinks that is just what happened to Laura Cristine Ritch .

He said Ritch and another woman were fighting over a man and, in response to the fighting, Ritch sent text messages to the other woman pretending to be Marion Police Officer Jeff Hartwig, telling her that she had to stop contacting Ritch.

The other woman went to the police department, thinking that it was unorthodox for another police officer to contact her via text. 

Hartwig happened to be in the office when she came in and confirmed that he had never sent the text.

Daugherty said the police went to the Ritch’s Marion home at 110 Longview Drive on Feb. 20, where she denied sending the text. But when she was shown a picture of the text she allegedly fessed up and was charged with impersonating a public official.

Impersonating a public official is an aggravated misdemeanor.