'Silly misunderstanding': Man accused of impersonating attorney to get into Oklahoma County Jail speaks out

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An Oklahoma man arrested, accused of impersonating an attorney and sneaking into the Oklahoma County Detention Center to see his girlfriend, is speaking out.

Court documents say on October 13, Aaron Oldham went to the jail trying to get power of attorney paperwork signed for his girlfriend, Christine Hillier, an inmate. Online jail records say Hillier was booked into the jail on October 6, in connection with charges out of Douglas County, Nevada.

During his October 13 visit, documents say Oldham went to the attorney's visitation area of the jail and started portraying himself as Hillier's attorney, allegedly telling staff that, "We are trained in patients."

Investigators say Hillier was brought to the attorney's visitation booth with Oldham and after the filed out power of attorney paperwork, they began "hugging and kissing." Oldham left the jail, but was arrested the same day for false personation because investigators realized he didn't have any legal training or a license to practice law.

"It's a silly misunderstanding and I will never interact with that system again, hopefully," said Oldham. "I'm a very law-abiding person."

Oldham told News 4 he did not want to explain the details of the allegations.

"I trust, I trust the U.S. legal system," said Oldham.

News 4 spoke with criminal defense attorney Ed Blau about the allegations, a practicing attorney in Oklahoma County, who says he's been in and out of the jail on hundreds of occasions visiting clients.

"I've been to the jail a couple of hundred times in my career, and I've never seen a situation where somebody out of the blue showed up and pretended to either be a bonds person or an attorney," said Blau. "Most of the time, the staffers either know you or, if they don't, they request some form of ID and your bar card to show you're an attorney."

An Oklahoma County Detention Center spokesperson confirmed to News 4 in a statement on Wednesday that a staff member made a mistake. The statement noted they had been disciplined, and all staff in the attorney visitation area had been retrained:

"An individual recently presented himself at the jail claiming to be an attorney in order to visit an inmate. A staff member did not follow established verification procedures, allowing the individual access. Once the breach was discovered, investigators obtained a warrant, and the individual was arrested at a residence in Oklahoma City. The staff member involved has been disciplined, and all staff assigned to the attorney visitation area have received retraining to reinforce our existing policies and prevent this from happening again."

Oklahoma County Detention Center

News 4 also spoke with Oklahoma County District One Commissioner Jason Lowe on Wednesday, who said he believes the mistake is a part of a bigger problem at the jail.

"It's concerning," said Lowe. "We need more staff at the Oklahoma County Detention Center. We need more funding at the Oklahoma County Center detention center."

Lowe is also a practicing attorney, and commended jail staff for taking accountability for the mistake, but he said he plans to follow up.

"How do we avoid it?" asked Lowe. "This should never happen again."

It's unclear if Hillier will face any additional charges in connection with the incident.