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Federal judge orders Columbus police narcotics officer to remain jailed

Prosecutors argued Marco Merino had an extreme disregard for playing by the rules and should be detained during the hearings. The judge agreed.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus police narcotics officer arrested by the FBI for drug charges will stay behind bars for now.

Prosecutors said in federal court Marco Merino had trafficked an amount of fentanyl that would equal four million lethal doses and argued the strength of the case was "overwhelming."

In federal court Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Merino admitted to his criminal acts and it leaves no room for doubt.

Prosecutors argued Merino had a nine-month crime spree of protecting what he thought was the cartel and selling and distributing 7.5 kilograms of fentanyl.

The prosecutor said in court Merino wanted to get Mexican citizenship and buy properties in that country to launder the drug money. The prosecutor argued Merino admitted he learned how through law enforcement training.

They argued Merino had an extreme disregard for playing by the rules, and should be detained during the hearings. The judge agreed.

Merino was in the same academy class as John Kotchoski in December 2010 and is a native of Venezuela.

In 2020, he was given a written reprimand for causing a crash in a cruiser. He was also reprimanded in 2018 for another crash.

Merino's attorney, Diane Menashe, hung up when 10TV called for a comment.

Kotchkoski's attorney, Sam Shamansky said his client will fight the charges.

"There's a lot of allegations and presumably that comes from Marco who has already confessed to being a narcotics trafficker. Sounds like Marco is maybe doing whatever he can to get himself out of hot water,” Shamanski said.

Columbus Division of Police internal affairs and personnel records show Kotchkoski has pending equal employment opportunity retaliation complaints from this year by two officers named as complainants.

In 2015, Kotchkoski was charged with misdemeanor assault after kicking an unconscious man in the head two times while he laying on the ground at the Dublin Irish festival, according to court records. The victim suffered a concussion and had to receive stitches.

Kotchkoski, who was not on duty at the time, later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct.

According to Kotchkoski's personnel record, he was charged with departmental charges related to the assault conviction and was ordered to forfeit 96 hours of leave in lieu of being suspended.

Kotchkoski is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing on Friday afternoon.

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