Former Columbus narcotics cop sentenced for trafficking fentanyl

As a Columbus police narcotics officer, Marco Merino was supposed to investigate drug crimes. Instead, authorities say, he and another city narcotics officer took money to help sell or traffick more than eight kilograms of drugs, including cocaine and fentanyl.

Merino, 45, pleaded guilty a year ago in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus to charges related to accepting bribes and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. sentenced Merino to nine years in prison and five years of post-release control, as requested by federal prosecutors.

Merino apologized to the community, his fellow officers and his family at the sentencing hearing for giving into temptation and greed.

“I’m ashamed for my actions,” Merino said.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Peter K.

Glenn-applegate said these crimes weren’t a momentary lapse of judgment or driven by addiction or dire financial straights.

“These offenses are best described as systematic corruption,” Glenn-applegate said. “It’s ongoing for multiple months . ... The idea being ultimately to buy properties in Mexico, to get Mexican citizenship, to launder money, really to make a complete shift from law enforcement officer to drug trafficker.”

Glenn-applegate said the public needs to be reassured that when law enforcement officers do wrong, there will be serious consequences.

Before sentencing Merino, Judge Sargus pointed out that Franklin County had 825 overdose deaths in 2021 while Merino was dealing drugs and that 89% of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl.

“I don’t have anything good to say about cocaine, but I have even worse things to say about fentanyl,” Sargus said. “The overdose deaths were four times (the number of homicide deaths in Franklin County in 2021) and you knew that. You had to know that by being a narcotics detective.”

Authorities say John Kotchkoski, 34, and Merino graduated from the Columbus police academy together and, as Columbus narcotics detectives, dealt drugs together. Kotchkoski pleaded guilty in April to a single count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9.

Merino and Kotchkoski were arrested in the fall of 2021 after they attempted to sell eight kilograms of fentanyl to an undercover FBI agent they thought was a confidential informant.

Merino took bribes, sold drugs and protected shipments of drugs, according to federal prosecutors.

As part of his plea agreement, Kotchkoski surrendered two cars, more than $500,000 in cash and 21 firearms, according to court records.

Court records say the $500,000 and property are a “conservative estimate” of Kotchkoski’s illegal profits.

Dispatch reporter Bethany Bruner contributed to this report.

jlaird@dispatch.com