A five-year veteran of the London Police Service has become the third officer to be charged with an offence in just over two months.
Constable Sergio Mendez-Vargas, 33, was arrested Thursday by the Waterloo Regional Police Service. He is charged with one count of breach of trust.
In July 2016, Police Chief John Pare asked Waterloo police to investigate the officer.
“With the charges before the courts, I can’t comment on the details of the investigation, but I can say the allegations, if proven, are contrary to what is expected of all of our employees,” said Pare.
Mendez-Vargas was suspended with pay on March 27, 2017. Due to a provision in the current Police Services Act, an officer cannot be suspended without pay when criminal charges are laid.
He will appear in London court on February 21.
At the end of last November, a 41-year-old London police officer was charged with sexually assaulting a woman he had been in a relationship with. He was additionally charged with criminal harassment, being unlawfully in a dwelling, and making a harassing phone. The name of the officer in that incident was not released to protect the identity of the victim.
A week after the original charges were laid against the unidentified officer, 47-year-old Constable Achille Currado was charged in an unrelated investigation with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, breach of trust, and obstruction of justice.
