GROVER BEACH, California — Here’s a head-spinning tale about a person arrested for impersonating a cop who police thought was a man but later discovered was a woman.

Police in Grover Beach, California began peeling back the layers of this onion on Jan. 13, when they got a call reporting that “a citizen” driving a Toyota Prius with Texas plates and flashing lights pulled over a motorist for traffic stop.

The driver, sensing something fishy was going on, took down the license plate number of the Prius and reported the incident to local police, saying the phony cop was a man.

Two days later, Grover Beach police finally tracked down the owner of the Prius to nearby Arroyo Grande, where they arrested Ken M. Kennon, 52, at home. In the arrest report and a press release, police listed Kennon as a man.

“The driver’s license said male,” Grover Beach Sgt. Celis Rabena told Cal Coast News. “We did not check and we did not ask. Sometimes, that is a personal question.”

But when Kennon was brought to the San Luis Obispo County jail on charges of impersonating a police officer, officials there determined that she is actually female and placed her in a private cell. Bail was set at $20,000.

Still, the matter of Kennon’s gender remains murky — when Cal Coast News called the jail, they were initially told that Kennon was male but a staffer then corrected himself and said Kennon was female, after which he said he needed to check with a supervisor what was going on.