Former Columbus police officer pleads guilty in cocaine case
A former Columbus police officer has admitted to federal cocaine possession charges that led to his 2024 arrest.
John Castillo, 31, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus said during Castillo's plea hearing on Wednesday morning.
According to court records, in February 2021, Castillo and another officer pulled over a man identified as "Person A" after seeing him and his wife picking up a bag with money from a business on Lockbourne Road.
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During the investigation and traffic stop, the officers found out that Person A gave another person, identified as "Person C," several kilos of cocaine to hold for Person A.
Castillo, the other officer and Person A went to Person A's home on North Everett Avenue.
Court records say Castillo used an access code provided by Person A to hide two kilos of cocaine under the home's basement stairs.
The officers then took Person A back to where the vehicle had been pulled over and took Person A and his wife back to the home, where the officers were given consent to search the home, according to court records. Castillo and the other officer found the cocaine Castillo had planted.
The next day, court records say Castillo and the other officer, who to date, has not been identified, went to a storage unit owned by Person A and his wife and illegally seized unidentified property.
Castillo, who had joined the Columbus Division of Police in 2019, resigned in February after his arrest. He is one of four Columbus officers who worked on the narcotics squad to face charges related to a federal investigation.
Marco Merino is serving a nine-year prison sentence after admitting to accepting bribes and trafficking more than eight kilos of fentanyl.
John Kotchkoski has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and fentanyl and is scheduled for sentencing in August.
Joel Mefford's case is pending. He is accused of stealing 20 kilos of cocaine from the Division's property room and replacing it with fake cocaine, as well as taking cocaine from the rafters of a garage that was set to be searched by police with a warrant the next day.
Mefford is currently scheduled to go to trial in September.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Columbus police officer John Castillo pleads guilty in cocaine case
