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.

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.

Something similar happened a month later, the DOJ said, when the officers were looking into houses known for drug-trafficking.

On March 7, 2020, the officers arrested an individual at one of the houses, but not before they took a bag that was holding "multiple kilograms of cocaine," according to the DOJ. They then went to another house under investigation and stole another kilogram of the drug, officials said.

The DOJ said that same day, Mefford turned in only one kilogram of cocaine to evidence and stole the rest to be sold.

The next month, Mefford and his co-conspirator "stole between 10 and 20 kilograms of cocaine from the Columbus police property room and replaced it with fake cocaine," the DOJ said. Mefford then transported the stolen drugs in a police car and gave them to the other officer who passed them along to a third person to sell.

The profits from the cocaine sales were given to the other officer, who provided Mefford with his cut — approximately $130,000, the DOJ said. Mefford deposited more than $72,000 of that into his personal bank account.

The harshest penalty Mefford could face is at least 10 years and up to life in prison stemming from the charge of possessing with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

The other two charges carry a potential sentence of up to 50 years in prison, combined. A sentencing date has yet to be set.