Ex-Columbus officer made $130K by selling cocaine he stole from crime scenes, DOJ says
A former Columbus police officer accused of stealing cocaine from crime scenes and evidence rooms and then selling it for more than $100,000 has pleaded guilty, the Department of Justice said in a release.
A former Columbus police officer accused of stealing cocaine from crime scenes and evidence rooms and then selling it for more than $100,000 has pleaded guilty, the Department of Justice said in a release.
Joel M. Mefford, 35, of London, Ohio, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, one count of possessing with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and one count of money laundering, the DOJ said in a statement.
Mefford was assigned to investigate drug crimes when he worked for the Columbus Police Department. He worked with a fellow officer to "steal and traffic cocaine" in three instances from February to April 2020, federal prosecutors said.
The first instance, in February 2020, the officers were investigating a drug crime when they "unlawfully gained access to a detached garage" belonging to the person they were investigating, officials said.
Mefford and the other officer went into the garage without a warrant and found two kilograms of cocaine in the rafters, the DOJ said. They "unlawfully" took one of the kilograms of cocaine and "left the other to be found during the execution of a search warrant the next morning," the DOJ said, adding that the other officer then gave that kilogram of cocaine to someone else to sell.
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