Staff Reports
A Tampa cop beat the rap for allegedly misusing police resources, but the city still won’t help pay his bills.
A federal lawsuit alleged that Tampa Police Officer Richard Mercado improperly accessed the personal information of Dunnellon man Jorge Torres using DAVID, the state driver and information database.
Torres claimed Mercado was dating Torres’ wife, Leticia Maria Torres, and searched personal records to aid in divorce proceedings. Further, Torres suggested Mercado planned to use police resources to “harass and possible kill” Torres.
The suit alleges Mercado traded information from the state system for sexual favors, then handed over all the data to a divorce attorney to use against Torres.
Mercado asked the city to cover his legal fees in the federal case, but the city declined and Torres had to hire a private attorney.
U.S. District Judge James Moody dismissed the case in April. Mercado’s attorney, Jeffrey Stull, requested after that ruling for the city to reconsider reimbursing the costs, but Tampa City Attorney Salvatore Territo says the city’s position on the payment has not changed.
Stull, in a motion to dismiss the case, labeled Torres’ accusations as a “rambling” and “unsupported by any factual allegation,” and said the lawsuit should be treated as a “shotgun pleading.”
Torres boasts a checkered history that predates his messy divorce. His past actions drew media attention from The New York Times and The Daily Beast. He has previously been accused of luring women from Latin America to the U.S. then forcing them into prostitution, something that landed him in federal prison for human trafficking and the smuggling of aliens.
He reportedly once claimed to be a leader of the Sephardic Jewish community in El Salvador, and he once convinced an Idaho church to hire him to recover congregants detained in Haiti.
Officials say Torres once jumped bail in Miami after being arrested for possession of fake documents.
