Former London police officer swept up in drug bust faces new charge

A former London police officer swept up in a gun and drug bust earlier this year faces a new charge, according to court records.

Sergio Mendez, 40, was among four people charged after the OPP and police in London and Woodstock carried out a series of searches across Southwestern Ontario in January, seizing $194,000 worth of drugs including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and magic mushrooms, the OPP said.

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Investigators also seized a shotgun, ammunition, knives, a stun gun, electronic devices, drug paraphernalia and cash, police said.

Mendez, who resigned from his job as a constable with London police in 2019 while facing a criminal charge, was charged with possession of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking.

Court records show Mendez and one of his co-accused in the drug bust, a 31-year-old London woman, are additionally charged with possession of property obtained by crime valued at more than $5,000.

The new charge was laid on July 18, say the documents that don’t identify the property.

Mendez was freed on bail earlier this year, while the woman has been held in custody since her arrest on Jan. 9. Both are scheduled to appear in court next on Wednesday.

The new charge is the latest legal setback for Mendez. In 2018, Waterloo Regional police charged him with breach of trust after they were contacted by London police in July 2017 regarding the on-duty and off-duty conduct of an officer, police said.

The charge was related to an allegation of releasing confidential police information between February 2016 and March 2017, according to court documents.

But the case never went to trial. Mendez resigned from the force shortly before the Crown withdrew the charge in March 2019, despite telling the court there was a reasonable chance of conviction and that prosecuting the case would be in the public interest because Mendez was someone entrusted with upholding the law.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com
@DaleatLFPress

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