By Jane Prendergast
Enquirer staff writer

John Holliman

He flashed a badge, pretending to be a cop. He twice called Columbus' MedFlight helicopter to nonexistent accident scenes. And he finagled his way out of an arrest this spring by convincing Columbus officers that he was a diabetic who couldn't go to jail without his insulin.

And he said he was a security guard, too. That's why, he explained to police, that they caught him with handcuffs.

Now, authorities in Cincinnati are trying to figure out how this 20-year-old repeat offender with a penchant for pretending to be a police officer and firefighter could convince the Cincinnati Fire Department that he was a doctor.

But police say that's exactly what John Holliman did: He produced documents that said he was a Lexington physician, according to police reports, and he convinced Cincinnati firefighters that he was authorized to ride along on emergency runs.

Police arrested Holliman at Cincinnati fire department headquarters just before 10 p.m. Wednesday after a firefighter called officers and said he suspected someone was giving firefighters false information in order to ride with them. Holliman first was charged with falsification, a misdemeanor. By Thursday, investigators also charged him with practicing medicine without a license, a felony.

He remains jailed on $25,000 bond.

Most medical professionals who ride in city ambulances are affiliated with University Hospital.

As a top trauma center, University has doctors and others ride along with ambulance crews as part of their training.

Assistant Fire Chief Bob Kuhn, who is in charge of operations, said Holliman dropped a lot of names of University Hospital workers. But he said it isn't yet clear how Holliman convinced firefighters that he was authorized to go on ambulance runs.

Kuhn said fire administrators and police investigators had not finished confirming how many times Holliman rode in ambulances or how involved he got with patients. But he said initial conversations with paramedics from the two firehouses that officials confirmed he rode with - Rescue 14, in downtown, and Rescue 38, in Winton Place - indicated Holliman "did not lay hands on anybody. He was just riding.''

Holliman could face more charges after authorities determine whether he participated in any kind of medical care and whether there really is a Dr. Antoine Douglas, the name police said Holliman used as his alias.

"He's a really good liar,'' said Bill Hedrick, an assistant prosecutor in Columbus whose office has repeatedly and successfully prosecuted Holliman for such things as making a false fire report in Hilliard or telling patrons in bars that he was a police officer and investigating them for crimes.

He is currently wanted in Columbus on charges that he pointed a gun last month at a man he met over an Internet chat line.

Hedrick said he isn't sure what motivates Holliman.

Hedrick was happy to hear that his counterparts in Cincinnati charged Holliman with a felony. None of the convictions in Columbus put him behind bars for longer than 6 months.

"Him being a doctor is new,'' Hedrick said. "I'm only used to him being a firefighter and a police officer. At least, he hasn't been a prosecutor yet.''

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com