A 79-year-old former law enforcement officer has been convicted on two felonies after he became enraged in a traffic dispute earlier this year and pulled a gun on another motorist.

Buddy Trumbo, the former police chief of the Amador County town of Plymouth as well as a veteran of three other law enforcement agencies, was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to report to the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center on Oct. 20.

According to Sacramento Superior Court records, Judge Gary E. Ransom recommended that Trumbo serve his sentence in the sheriff's work furlough program, where lime-vested, low-grade felons serve their time picking up trash along the region's highways.

Besides the 90 days, Ransom also sentenced Trumbo to three years' probation as a result of the defendant's Aug. 7 no-contest plea to one count of assault with a firearm and another of brandishing a gun on a public street.

As a result of the plea, Trumbo, who had a concealed weapons permit issued by the Placer County Sheriff's Department, will be banned for life from owning a weapon, according to the court records.

"The only thing I was satisfied with was that they took his gun away," the victim, James Torrez, 46, an Antelope construction worker, said Friday about the case's outcome.

Torrez said that Trumbo's "attitude throughout the whole thing" was "really, really frustrating." He said he felt that the Sacramento District Attorney's Office had treated the 30-year former law enforcement officer lightly. According to court records, Trumbo spent two years as a California Highway Patrol officer, three as the Plymouth police chief, 10 as a Placer County sheriff's deputy and 15 as a Department of Defense police officer at McClellan Air Force Base.

Deputy District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert called the disposition "a fair resolution."

"He (was) 78," she said. "He had no prior criminal history at all. No one was injured in this incident. The judge made it clear he will never own a gun again or any type of ammunition."

Trumbo declined to be interviewed Friday.

The ex-cop drew down on Torrez after the two motorists converged on each other Feb. 6 at the intersection of Van Maren Lane and Auburn Boulevard in Citrus Heights.

According to Trumbo's probation report, he felt that Torrez cut him off and almost hit him while crossing two lanes of traffic and squeezing ahead of him into the turn lane onto Auburn. The report said Trumbo then chased Torrez along city streets and finally cut in front of him to block him off.

According to the probation report, Trumbo then flashed his badge, ordered Torrez out of his car, pulled his gun on him and, according to witnesses, pointed it "in all sorts of directions." Another motorist called 911. Responding Citrus Heights police officers, after first detaining Torrez, cited Trumbo.

The DA's office filed a misdemeanor case on March 26. It accused Trumbo of brandishing the gun and impersonating an officer. Prosecutors upgraded the case April 22 to include the felony assault and brandishing charges.

"Several times I thought my life was over," Torrez told the probation officer who wrote the report. "I remember thinking, what will happen with my kids?"

In a letter to the court, Torrez said that Trumbo "was really acting like a lunatic, yelling, screaming and (waving his gun)." He said in the letter that "I fear for the public because this person has major issues. I was one trigger pull from death … His abuse of power and his life-threatening actions should not be tolerated in our society."

Seven retired law enforcement officers wrote letters on behalf of Trumbo.

One of them, former Sacramento County Chief Deputy Sheriff Robert Denham, said he has known Trumbo for 10 years and that "I have always observed him to be a man of honesty and integrity and calm and rational behavior."

"Chief Trumbo has always exhibited a superior grasp of knowledge of the laws of this state and duties of a peace officer," Denham's letter said.

Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.