Attorney: Columbus officer ‘did nothing wrong’
Drug trafficking suspect ordered held until trial
Despite pleas from his attorney, father, brother and even his ex-wife, a Columbus police narcotics officer charged with trafficking fentanyl and cocaine has been ordered held behind bars until his trial.
John Kotchkoski, 33, was ordered held at the end of a detention hearing Friday afternoon before U.S. District Court Chief Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers in federal court in Columbus. He is charged with conspiring with a fellow narcotics officer to help distribute the deadly drug fentanyl.
A federal complaint accuses Kotchkoski of providing a package of more than seven kilograms of fentanyl to Marco Merino, a fellow Columbus narcotics officer and training academy colleague who also is facing federal charges for then allegedly delivering the drugs to an undercover FBI agent.
Attorney Sam Shamansky, who is representing Kotchkoski, said the evidence prosecutors laid out during a nearly hour-long hearing was taken out of context and was the result of detectives working together, not a drug trafficking enterprise.
Federal prosecutors have “cherrypicked … one or two sentences that they claim to be true,” Shamansky said. “These conversations need to be taken in context and none of that has occurred here.”
Kotchkoski’s brother, father and exwife all testified on his behalf Friday, saying he would never leave his young daughter and would follow any court orders imposed by Deavers as a condition of release pending trial.
“He’s very loyal and follow the law all the time. He wouldn’t do anything wrong,” said Kotchkoski’s father, also named John.
Kotchkoski’s brother, Alex, said all of Kotchkoski’s decisions were made with providing for his ex-wife and nearly 4year-old daughter in mind.
“I would not trust anyone in the world more than him,” Alex Kotchkoski said. “He’s an exceptional person.”
John Kotchkoski’s ex-wife, Cassandra Kotchkoski, urged the judge to
release him with the house as collateral, saying he would not leave his daughter or do anything to jeopardize her wellbeing.
“He's an amazing dad,” she said. “Bella is his absolute world.”
Shamansky intimated during Friday's hearing that Merino was the drug trafficker in the case and Kotchkoski was nothing more than a patsy.
“Their entire case at this juncture rests on some phone records that tell us nothing or tell us very little, (and) the word of a for-sure drug dealer, that being Merino, who's caught red-handed,” Shamansky said. “That's not the mark of an involved, intelligent drug trafficker with a badge. That's the behavior of a man who has been set up.”
However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter
Glenn-applegate said Kotchkoski's conduct — including allegations he threatened that Merino's life would be ended by hitmen if Merino were to speak about the alleged criminal conduct — and Kotchkoski's role as a police officer made him a risk to the community.
Deavers ultimately ruled that Kotchkoski would remain behind bars pending trial, as the federal court system does not use a bond system like local courts do. Kotchkoski currently is being held in the Delaware County jail and remains on paid leave from the Columbus Division of Police.
After the hearing, Shamansky called the allegations that his client threated Merino “unmitigated (B.S.).”
“The notion that my client threatened anybody is a self-serving lie,” he said.