A Washington state woman is free on her own recognizance after being arrested for stealing a horse in her care.

Thurston County, Wash., Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Kenneth Clark said that earlier this year a 5-year-old Quarter Horse mare was being boarded at a farm near Yelm when the operator of the boarding facility told the animal’s owner that a Sheriff’s deputy had seized the horse on grounds that the animal was maltreated.

“She said someone pulled up in a black SUV just like ours, showed some papers and a badge, and took the horse,” Clark said. “That got our attention.”

But the deputy impersonator never existed, Clark said. A subsequent investigation revealed that the boarding facility operator conjured the impersonator and conspired to steal the horse