POLK COUNTY, Ga. – Matthew Christopher Hearne, a former Buchanan police officer,   was arrested by the GBI on Monday, Oct. 2 for fraud and impersonation pf a police officer.

Hearne, 39, of Cedartown, Georgia allegedly was “portraying himself as the Buchanan Chief of Police and sending harassing communications to his ex-wife,” according to the GBI.

The investigation began on Sept. 25 when the GBI received a request from the Polk County Police Department to conduct a Public Officials Investigation.

The arrest came three days after the sixth anniversary of the death of Polk County Police Detective Kristen Hearne, the former spouse of Matthew Hearne, who was killed in the line-of-duty in 2017.

Mr. Hearne had remarried since and has been employed as a police officer for an undetermined amount of time; however, he was not employed as a police officer at his time of arrest.

He has officially been charged with one count of Harassing Communications, one count of Identity Fraud, one count of Violation of Public Oath, and one count of Impersonating a Police Officer.