Cop impersonator and BB gun found at Packers Roost

Two Columbia Falls men pleaded innocent to felony charges stemming from a confrontation in the Packers Roost parking lot in Coram on Feb. 9.

Skylar Nelson, 27, was charged with one count of assault with a weapon and faces up to 20 years and a $50,000 fine if convicted. Robert Konya III, 23, was charged with one count of impersonating a public servant and faces up to five years and a $5,000 fine if convicted.

According to court records, Flathead County sheriff’s deputies responded to Packers Roost for a report of someone pointing a gun at people in a vehicle following an altercation inside the saloon.

The victims reported they were trying to leave in their vehicle when Konya approached the driver’s-side window and identified himself as a police officer. When asked to show his identification, he reportedly flashed his wallet and put it away.

Nelson allegedly approached the passenger’s-side window and pointed a pistol at the people in the vehicle. The victims then drove away, but Nelson was reportedly still holding the pistol in his hand as they passed him.

The deputies located Nelson and Konya and allegedly found a black BB gun in plain view on the passenger’s-side floorboard in Konya’s vehicle. When the deputies interviewed Konya, he allegedly said he was not a police officer but had tried to become one.

Nelson and Konya pleaded innocent before Flathead County District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht on Feb. 28. Their next hearing is scheduled for May 8.