Cole County prosecutor will not accept cases from deputy on probation
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Cole County’s top prosecutor will not accept criminal cases submitted by a deputy who recently pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanors.
Prosecutor Locke Thompson wrote a letter to Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler saying he would not take cases submitted by Mercy Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty last week to reckless driving and failing to obey a traffic control device.
Thompson’s letter is dated Monday, Aug. 11 and Gonzalez pleaded guilty on Friday, Aug. 8. She was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation, ordered to complete 40 hours of community service within six months and complete the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Emergency Vehicle Operations Course in October.
She faces a year in jail if she violates her probation.
“As a matter of policy, the Cole County Prosecutor’s Office does not accept criminal referrals from law enforcement officers who have previously pled guilty to any felony or who are currently subject to any criminal diversion program or on probation, whether felony or misdemeanor,” the letter states. “As a result of the guilty plea referenced above, Deputy Gonzalez now falls under this category, and no criminal referrals submitted by her to the Cole County Prosecutor’s Office will be accepted.”
Gonzalez was previously listed as a school resource officer in the Blair Oaks R-2 School District, though her information no longer appears on the district’s website.
Court documents in previous reporting say Gonzalez crashed her patrol vehicle with a Honda Pilot at the intersection of Highway 179 and West Edgewood Drive in Jefferson City on Dec. 15, 2023.
The Honda was driving on West Edgewood Drive when it was hit by Gonzalez’s Dodge Charger that was driving 115 miles per hour while going south on Highway 179, court documents say. Gonzalez had her emergency lights on, but court documents do not clarify if she was in a chase. The probable cause statement says Gonzalez tried to steer away from the victim’s vehicle, but was unsuccessful.