Court records shed light on London police officer's assault charges
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A veteran London police officer is accused of assaulting a man and woman last month and breaking a release condition that barred him from returning to a London home less than two weeks later, according to court documents.
Const. Juan Romero, 46, was arrested on Dec. 12 and charged with two counts of assault, assault with a weapon, resisting arrest and obstructing police.
Court records show Romero wasn’t held in custody and was released on an undertaking, a document created by either a court or police that places the charged person under certain conditions.
Romero, a 19-year service member, was arrested again on Dec. 23 and charged with failing to comply with an undertaking that prohibited him from going within 25 metres of a northeast London home, except accompanied by police to retrieve his belongings, court documents say.
Romero is alleged to have assaulted a man and woman, both with the same last name, on Dec. 12, and further assaulted the man with a blunt object, the documents say.
A police spokesperson declined to say whether the charges are domestic related.
London police have a policy of not releasing the names of suspects charged in domestic cases, including police officers, to protect the identity of victims.
The court documents don’t provide any additional details about how Romero is alleged to have obstructed justice.
Romero is represented by Lucas O’Hara, a London lawyer with a history of defending police officers charged with criminal offences and professional misconduct.
A representative for O’Hara attended a virtual court hearing Thursday for Romero. The crown requested a publication ban be imposed to protect any information that could identity witnesses or victims in the case. But Ontario Court Justice Frank Leddy ordered the request be made in writing and said he’d review it at Romero’s next court date on Jan. 25.
The judge accepted a request to impose a different publication ban related to any evidence presented in court on the case.
Romero has been placed on paid suspension. Police chiefs in Ontario don’t have the authority to withhold pay from suspended officers unless they’ve been convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail time. Ontario’s top cops are expected to get expanded authority to withhold pay from suspended officers in the spring when the Community Safety and Police Act, new legislation governing policing replaces the Police Services Act.
The charges against Romero were announced less than a week after ex-London police officer Sergio Mendez, 39, was among five people charged in an OPP-led investigation that resulted in the seizure of $194,000 worth of suspected fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and magic mushrooms.
Mendez is charged with possession of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking.
Mendez spent a week in custody at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre before he was released on bail Monday. Under his bail conditions, Mendez is required to live with his surety, who pledged $10,000, and not leave the house between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. He was also ordered to forfeit his passport to police and not contact any of his co-accused or possess any weapons.
Mendez, who spent more than a year suspended with pay, resigned from London police in 2019 while facing a breach of trust charge related to an allegation of releasing confidential police information. The Crown cited “unusual complexities” and Mendez’s resignation as reasons for withdrawing the charge.
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