The saga of the big, expensive and empty jail in Hardin has taken a turn into the surreal in recent days, attracting attention from across the country.

In one way, "American Police Force" sounds like the name of a Cartoon Network show. But the company that was viewed as a potential savior for the Hardin jail just two weeks ago has since been rejected by Hardin city leaders, after the American Police Force point man, Michael Hilton, was exposed as a shady con-man with an extensive record of criminal fraud.

In the meantime, the company's strange operation has triggered paranoia about private, Blackwater-type security firms taking over tiny towns, either with or without UN connivance. Hilton and several associates showed up in town in three black Mercedes sport utility vehicles bearing "City of Hardin Police Department" insignias, even though there is no Hardin police force. The only thing missing from the takeover story were black helicopters.

But the real story is the revelation of Hilton's background and the fallout that has followed since then: The potential arrangement with American Police Force was put on hold last week, and two officials with the city economic development authority who brokered the deal have since resigned. The latest news is that the man who was to head operations at the jail turns out to be a former Secret Service supervisor who was fired after being convicted of stealing $2,800 from the agency in 2004.

The whole sordid story seems to be a reflection of just how desperate the town of Hardin, population 4,500, has become in trying to do something - anything - with a 464-bed jail that was built with the city backing the sale of $27 million in bonds.

Since it was finished two years ago, the Two Rivers Detention Facility has sat empty, leading to one pitch after another for how to recoup the investment. A few short months ago, city officials even offered up the jail as a potential destination for deadly terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay if that federal facility closed.

Now that is desperation.

Possibly, that's why a long-time Hardin business owner told the Billings Gazette that town leaders had little reason to be anything but optimistic about American Police Force - they just had no alternatives.

That is tragic desperation.