A Lawrence Township police officer has been indicted on two counts of official misconduct by a Mercer County grand jury for allegedly submitting an official report that contained false and misleading information.
Andres Mejia, 42, was indicted by the grand jury on Oct. 20, one month after he was charged with tampering with records and unsworn falsification, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
The charges are disorderly persons offenses.
An internal affairs investigation conducted by the Lawrence Township Police Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office uncovered the incident, which led to the charges being filed against Mejia Sept. 17.
Mejia has been suspended without pay from the Lawrence Township Police Department, pending the outcome of the criminal case.
Mejia allegedly submitted an official arrest report to his supervisors at the Lawrence Township Police Department on Aug. 16 that he knew contained false and misleading information about a fictitious witness in an incident that he was investigating, the prosecutor’s office said.
The indictment alleges that Mejia failed to investigate a claim of domestic violence assault and made a false statement in a police report. The falsification of records was discovered during an unrelated criminal investigation in August.
