David Anthony Battle, who has been convicted of stealing a police car and impersonating a police officer, is in trouble again after authorities said he posed as a firefighter at the Lake fire near Big Bear and had a stolen gun inside a stolen vehicle.

Battle, 44, of San Bernardino, raised suspicion Saturday morning, June 27, when deputies saw him driving a white Ford Crown Victoria – for years the vehicle of choice for police patrol cars – in areas in the San Bernardino Mountains that had been closed off by roadblocks, according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

When stopped at a checkpoint, Battle, wearing a firefighter’s uniform, claimed he was trying to locate a fire crew and then left the area.

Fifteen minutes later, deputies spotted the Crown Victoria at the fire’s base camp at Big Bear High. There, he could not provide identification proving that he was a firefighter.

A records check showed that the vehicle’s California exempt license plates, which are issued to government vehicles, had been stolen. And the car itself had been stolen separately two weeks ago in San Bernardino, the release said.

A stolen handgun, firefighter uniforms and a radio stolen from the Lake fire base camp also were found in the car, the release said.

Sheriff’s officials declined to say what they think Battle might have been intending to do.

Battle was charged Tuesday with impersonating a firefighter, grand theft auto, being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of possessing stolen property.

The Lake fire, which started June 17 south of Highway 38 and east of Angelus Oaks, has now burned more than 31,000 acres.

Battle is well known to law enforcement authorities in San Bernardino County.

In October 1998, a judge found Battle guilty of two counts of grand theft auto and one count of impersonating a peace officer, among other crimes, Superior Court records show. He was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.

In December 2003, Battle was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to petty theft with a prior conviction. He had originally been charged with impersonating a peace officer, burglary and receiving stolen property.

In November 2013, Battle was arrested at his Rosemary Lane home on suspicion of grand theft auto – an unmarked San Bernardino Police Department vehicle taken from a City Hall parking garage – possessing stolen property and violating his parole. Battle pleaded guilty to grand theft auto and in March 2014 was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to enroll in a drug-treatment program.

That police car had been stolen just seven days after Battle was released from prison, where he served time for stealing another police vehicle, investigators said at the time.