A prosecutor offered to ‘make her case go away’ for sex, cops say. He’s in jail.
As an assistant state attorney in Collier County, Juan Mercado told a woman he would “make her case go away” if she had sex with him, agents say.
Even though he wasn’t the prosecutor on her case, he offered advice and looked up information on her prosecution, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Mercado is now the one who needs an attorney.
On Wednesday, the Hialeah attorney was arrested on bribery charges. He was being held Wednesday night in Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
The FDLE said an investigation showed that Mercado had a sexual relationship with the woman who was “being prosecuted for domestic battery.”
Miami-Dade police arrested him because he was living and working here. He’ll face trial, however, in Collier County, where he worked as a prosecutor.
Collier prosecutors, however, won’t handle his case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. The Florida governor’s office has assigned the case to the prosecutors in the 12th Circuit, which handles Desoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Mercado graduated from Florida International University’s College of Law in 2017 and was admitted to the bar the same year.
He served as assistant state attorney with the 20th Judicial Circuit, working out of the Charlotte County office. According to the State Attorney’s Office there, Mercado began with them in May 2017 and resigned in February 2019.
Mercado returned to Miami, where he opened up a solo law firm. On his website, he touted himself as a former prosecutor with over 30 trials under his belt.
“He knows all the tactics that will be used to try to convict you and how to shut them down,” Mercado wrote on his website, adding: “Juan thinks every case, no matter how big or small, deserves the best defense possible and will not put time limits on achieving your best results.”
It was unclear Wednesday if Mercado had hired an attorney.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 6:09 PM.
