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Metro Police Officer Thomas Mendiola testifies during a coroner’s inquest for Erik Scott at the Regional Justice Center on Sept. 28, 2010. Scott was shot and killed by Metro officers at the Summerlin Costco store July 10.
Friday, May 13, 2011 | 3 p.m.
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Sun Archives
- Metro officer tied to Costco shooting faces felony weapons charge (1-31-11)
- Erik Scott family drops Costco from federal lawsuit (1-20-11)
- Erik Scott family buys 4 billboard ads seeking Costco video (10-28-10)
- Police officers found justified in Erik Scott shooting; family plans lawsuit (9-28-10)
- Detective: Erik Scott had pain medicines from several doctors (9-27-10)
- Witnesses give conflicting accounts of Costco police shooting (9-25-10)
- Shoppers recount police shooting outside Costco (9-24-2010)
- Officer in Costco shooting says man raised gun, didn't know it was in holster (9-23-2010)
- Inquest testimony focuses on Erik Scott’s use of prescription drugs (9-22-10)
One of three Metro Police officers who shot and killed Erik Scott outside the Summerlin Costco last summer was indicted Friday on a charge of disposing a firearm to a prohibited person.
Thomas Rosco Mendiola was relieved of duty without pay in January pending the outcome of an investigation after he allegedly gave a firearm to a convicted felon as a gift for working on his car.
Mendiola, William Mosher and Joshua Stark shot and killed Scott on July 10 last year outside Costco after authorities say Scott pointed a gun at police. A Clark County coroner’s inquest jury ruled in September after six days of testimony the three officers were justified in the shooting.
According to a criminal complaint, Mendiola gave a .22-caliber Ruger handgun to Robert Justice, 45, as a gift for working on his car in August 2010. Justice has convictions for two felony offenses and is prohibited from possessing firearms, authorities said.
Mendiola had met Justice in July when Justice first worked on Mendiola’s car, the report said. Justice told police Mendiola gave him the gun, an extra magazine and a box of ammunition as a gift.
Justice later sold the gun and a .357-caliber handgun to an undercover detective, the complaint said.
When questioned, Mendiola admitted to giving Justice the gun and knowing the man had been in prison. He told police the gun “wasn’t even working, it was just beat up,” the complaint said.
Mendiola is scheduled to be arraigned May 26 in Clark County District Court.
1st - .22 is not a gun.
2nd - change your last name from Justice to Badluck.
"He told police the gun 'wasn't even working, it was just beat up,' the complaint said."
If it wasn't even working as claimed, why would he provide an extra magazine and a box of ammunition?
Wow, another quality cop unjustly persecuted. Stop it, metro.
I agree to the first two post.
Also if you get pulled over and you try telling a story like that it would not be believed.
If the gun was traded for services rendered then it the gun is actually value consideration as opposed to a fire arm, the question should be did Justice trade services for the gun in order to circumvent the gun laws that are in place that would have prohibited him from purchasing one and the next question is did the officer go along with this as a willing accomplice if so then there could be a conspiracy to the gun laws.
Very typical and not surprising. This is just done to make it look like Metro/DA "care." Of course they don't, this is just a ply.
Hopefully the Federal Government will investigate, like they did in New Orleans.
Of course they do it on friday to avoid the news cycle.
Just a question to Tom Duh. Not knowing a thing about guns and i'll stand corrected. But can't a .22 kill you? If it can I don't understand your post.
Metro hires dummies. Last thing they want is officers with brains. Brass want robots.
Plan works out OK for the most part. If they can keep the furtive move shootings to a minimum and lie about the ones which do happen, they are home free.
A .22 can be very deadly in the hands of a skilled shooter. But generally speaking, when used by an average shooter who goes for center mass shots, the infections caused by contaminants on the round (grease, dirt, etc.) are more likely to cause illness and death than the wound itself.
That said, a .22 is not my first choice if I want a weapon that will stop someone in their tracks with one shot. The psychological and physical "punch" just isn't there.
As for what the officer allegedly did, that was just plain stupid.
"[Mendiola] told police the gun "wasn't even working, it was just beat up."
Nice!! This fine officer's best defense is that he was just trying to screw Justice and get out of properly compensating him for auto work? That is what passes for integrity at Metro, I guess.
But how can we possibly fault Mendiola? The department's continued employment of officers who commit perjury, file false police reports, assault and kidnap innocent citizens, easily taught him that giving a gun to a felon was no big deal. After all that very same gun could be used to justify a police killing in the future. So he was just trying to help another of Metro's finest get the same paid vacation he received after shooting Erik Scott's lifeless body in the anus.
If this case was presented to a grand jury, why has the District Attorney not yet presented the Brian Yant case to a grand jury. In the Trevon Cole Inquest, the medical examiner presented forensic evidence regarding the fatal wound. Brian Yant's testimony conpletely contradicted that evidence. Yant has undergone an internal investigation and was disciplined in an unrelated case for lying. In the Cole case, his affidavit for a search warrant contained a number of lies. Why has a grand jury not been asked to determine if Yant should be indicted in the Cole case. Oh yeah, bad form to have the defendant in a Federal Civil Rights case with a criminal indictment from that same case. Makes it really hard to defend.
All Guns Kill . . in fact the .22 caliber with two shots to the back of the head used to be the preferred method of assassination by the Las Vegas Mafia not so very long ago. Speaking from experience, he is a Police Officer and if he knowingly provided an ex-felon with even a not working handgun . . he's in big trouble folks.