Ex-Las Vegas officer pleads not guilty to weapons charge
Former Las Vegas police officer Thomas Mendiola pleaded not guilty Thursday to a felony weapons charge.
When District Judge Douglas Herndon asked Mendiola for his plea, he responded, “Not guilty, your honor.”
His lawyer, Ulrich Smith, waived Mendiola’s right to a quick trial, and Herndon set a Dec. 5 trial date.
Mendiola, one of the Metropolitan Police Department officers who shot and killed Erik Scott outside the Summerlin Costco in July, was indicted last week on a charge of unlawfully giving a handgun to a two-time felon.
In September, a coroner’s inquest found that Mendiola, 34, and two other officers were justified in Scott’s July 10 shooting, but Scott’s family later sued the officers and the department in federal court.
Days after the Scott shooting, Mendiola gave a .22-caliber Ruger handgun to Robert Justice, who has two theft convictions in Arizona, according to the indictment. Mendiola is free on his own recognizance.
Justice, 45, pleaded guilty and is cooperating with police in an unrelated case involving an alleged suicide scheme by Las Vegas attorney Nancy Quon.
Both Quon and her live-in boyfriend, former Las Vegas police officer William Ronald Webb, are charged in that case.
Police said they learned about the relationship between Justice and Mendiola during an undercover investigation that targeted Justice last summer.
Justice ended up selling the Ruger handgun and a Dan Wesson .357-caliber revolver to an undercover detective on Sept. 14 for $500, police said. Neither firearm was registered with authorities in Clark County.
Justice told detectives that Mendiola gave him the .22-caliber handgun as a gift after Justice performed some mechanical work on the officer’s car.
Contact reporter Jeff German at
jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
