This undated photo provided by the Williams County Jail in Williston, N.D., shows Steven Goldmann.WILLISTON, N.D. - A man who was convicted last year of swindling numerous Tennessee businesses has been apprehended in the North Dakota oil patch where he said he was working as a bounty hunter.
Steven Goldmann, who was living in Williston, is in federal custody after he was arrested in March on an outstanding warrant from Tennessee. A complaint unsealed this week in federal court charges him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Goldmann was pulled over after a slow pursuit in Williston on March 21. Authorities say he was outfitted in with a holster for a firearm, a police-style badge on his hip, handcuffs, pepper spray and a T-shirt with a K-9 logo.
Authorities say Goldmann had a Glock .40-caliber pistol in the console next to the driver's seat and nine rounds of .40-caliber hydro shock hollow point bullets in the driver's side door.
Neil Fulton, head of the federal public defender's office for North Dakota, and Timothy Purdon, the U.S. attorney from North Dakota, declined to comment.
Court documents show that Goldmann pleaded guilty in July 2013 to felony theft of services charges in Nashville. Goldmann was alleged to have conned a real estate company, fashion designer, vintage guitar shop, limousine company, hotel, and helicopter rental company, among others, out of tens of thousands of dollars.
"He was quite colorful down here and he fleeced folks of some various goods and services," Susan Niland, spokeswoman for the Nashville district attorney's office, said Friday.
Goldmann was given no jail time and instead ordered to pay back the victims. A warrant for his arrest was issued on Jan. 8 after he failed to follow court orders for restitution.
"The victims wanted to get restitution and so people in jail are not able to make money to pay back victims," Niland said of Goldmann's six-year suspended sentence. "Sometimes that is the bargain you have to make."
It's not clear how long Goldmann has been in North Dakota. He was well-known to Williston police, according to the federal affidavit, and was seen around town wearing a holster.
Goldmann made his first court appearance in Bismarck earlier this week but was not asked to enter a plea. No further hearings have been scheduled.