“He's
been highly respected, he was a good cop, but sometimes you get a bad egg and
that's what happened here,” said Hanford Police Chief Carlos Mestas during a
press conference, Thursday evening.
That
"bad egg" he’s talking about is 30-year-old patrol officer, Ernesto
Servin. He's accused of providing drugs to several people in Hanford. He was
arrested after a two day investigation conducted by Hanford Police and the
Kings County District Attorney’s Office.
Mestas
explained, “The investigation revealed and search warrants were served in his
personal car and there was marijuana, methamphetamine and Oxycontin found in
his personal vehicle.”
Chief
Mestas says he doesn't believe any other officers were involved, and Servin was
working alone. Investigators believe this wasn't the only thing Servin was
doing. Mestas added, “We believe he wrote reports having to do with narcotics
that were never turned in, and maybe wrote a report that was not necessarily
true to fact.”
They
believe he did this to cover up for himself. Hanford resident, Mike Lewis
expressed, “They're supposed to be representing the community and not dealing
in those activities, more than anything, I'm just shocked that he would do
that.”
Hanford
resident Audrey Lewis said, “It makes you wonder because they're supposed to be
protecting us and taking care of us, and if they're partaking in that kind of
thing, we just never know.”
Chief
Mestas says he's just as shocked, “It's very disheartening when it's entrusted
upon us to enforce the laws and one of our own is in fact violating the laws.
That's why we take it so serious. I could tell you, the D.A. and all our
investigators, of all the people that we want off the streets, it’s a dirty
cop.”
Ernesto
Servin resigned earlier Thursday afternoon, when he was confronted by
investigators, before his arrest. He was booked into Kings County Jail on
possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with
a firearm, possession of controlled substance for sale, perjury, and fraud by
trust.
The
investigation is still ongoing. Bail has been set at $125,000.
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the
House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America. Demand mandatory body cameras for
cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.