Man Reportedly Represented Himself as Lawman

When Duluth Police arrested Robert Jones Howard of Duluth Tuesday (March 6) for theft by taking they found a lanyard and gold-colored badge in his vehicle. Witnesses to the theft and others told police officers that Howard leads citizens to believe that he is a member of the law enforcement community, according to the incident report, but he has no affiliation with any law enforcement agency or federal agency in Georgia. 

Howard was charged with theft by taking jewelry in January from Annabellagio in downtown Duluth, Det. Fran Foster reported. The case had been under investigation since then, she said. Witnesses saw him put jewelry from the shop into his pocket, and Annabellagio owner Terrie Needham later picked him out from police photographs, Foster said.

He was being held in the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond, Foster said. Howard was out on bond and was scheduled to go on trial Monday (March 12) for spray painting Duluth City Hall in 2010 for which he had been charged and indicted for criminal damage to government property, she said.

Howard is a self-proclaimed Navy SEAL and has represented himself to others as a doctor from Harvard and as a director of fundraising for the military and military-affiliated hospitals in Texas, according to the report. Howard has also represented himself as a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer Society, the report stated.

None of the stories are factual, according to the report. Howard also has reportedly sold jewelry that he obtained, purporting to the buyer that the jewelry was from high-end retailers and all the funds would go to the charity he was representing, the report stated. 

Foster explained that Duluth Police could not arrest and charge him for impersonating a law enforcement officer. “He wore the badge around his neck and never came out and told anyone he was a cop,” she said. “But he left the impression that he was.”

Needham thought he was a Duluth police officer when he came into her shop, Foster said.