- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
District Attorney's Office files charges against former deputy for prescription drug trafficking
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A former police officer and Lake County Sheriff's deputy who was dropped from a federal home invasion robbery case in April is now facing charges in a separate local case for allegedly trafficking in prescription drugs.
Eric Van Mendonca, 43, was arrested by sheriff's deputies at his Middletown home on Monday, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe.
Grothe said Mendonca is facing 16 felony counts for possession for sale, sale and offering to sell hydrocodone on seven separate dates in November and December of 2012, and January and February of this year.
“He had multiple prescriptions and was 'doc shopping,'” said Grothe.
The investigation, conducted by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, found that Mendonca had managed to accumulate thousands of pills using prescriptions that were filled at a number of Lake County pharmacies between March 9, 2009, and this past Feb. 6.
During that time period, Mendonca allegedly accumulated 17,540 prescription narcotic pain pills, according to case documents.
In 2012 alone, he acquired 6,990 pills, an average of 20 per day, Grothe said.
Grothe said that each of the 16 felony charges carries sentences ranging between 16 months and four years if Mendonca is convicted.
The FBI said its Safe Streets and Gang Unit – which includes 19 task forces across California – pursues violations such as racketeering, drug conspiracy and firearms violations, and is meant to expand cooperation and communication among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Earlier this year, at the same time as Mendonca was being investigated in the prescription drug case, he and several other men – including Petaluma residents Terry Jacksen and Michael Puckett, and Jack David Pollack of Hidden Valley Lake – were indicted by a federal grand jury.
The charges against the men included robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, possession of a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, impersonating an officer and making a search or arrest while impersonating an officer, according to case documents.
The US Attorney's Office alleged that the men committed an October 2012 home invasion robbery in Hidden Valley Lake, taking 48 marijuana plants valued at $96,000.
The men were accused of using law enforcement uniforms – allegedly provided by Mendonca, a former Petaluma Police officer and Lake County Sheriff's deputy – in committing the robbery, based on the indictment.
However, in April the US Attorney's Office dismissed the case against Mendonca without prejudice, as Lake County News has reported.
On Monday Mendonca was booked into the Lake County Jail, with bail was set at $275,000. He posted the required percentage of bail and was released the same day, according to jail records.
Grothe said that no court firm court date has yet been set for Mendonca in the new case.
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