LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The US Attorney’s Office has dropped the case against a Middletown man indicted earlier this year in a case alleging conspiracy in a home invasion robbery, while it has reached a plea agreement with another defendant and is moving forward with the cases against two other men.
Earlier this month US Attorney Melinda Haag’s office dismissed without prejudice its case against Eric Mendonca, who in January was indicted along with Petaluma residents Terry Jacksen and Michael Puckett, and Jack David Pollack of Hidden Valley Lake on suspicion of having robbed a Hidden Valley Lake resident of his marijuana, as Lake County News has reported.
Calls and emails to the public information office of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California regarding the case were not returned.
“The case against Eric should not have been brought,” Mendonca’s federal defender, Elizabeth Meyer Falk, told Lake County News in an email.
During raids in Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake last December, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took Mendonca – a former Lake County Sheriff’s deputy and Petaluma Police officer – into custody along with Jacksen and Pollack, while Puckett was arrested in January.
In January a federal grand jury charged the four men with robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, possession of a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, impersonating an officer and making a search or arrest while impersonating an officer.
The men had been accused of committing an October 2012 home invasion robbery in Hidden Valley Lake, where 48 marijuana plants valued at $96,000 and a variety of other items were taken, according to the indictment.
Pollack, who owns a well pump business, allegedly had cased the home. Later, Jacksen – who had been staying on property rented by Mendonca in Middletown – arrived, allegedly dressed as a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, and told the home’s occupants that he was working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was there to conduct a search. The home’s occupants were tied up and the marijuana plants were stolen.
According to the original case documents, Mendonca had been alleged to have provided Jacksen with the police uniforms.
During a search of Mendonca and Jacksen’s property in Middletown on Dec. 19 items including guns, a set of Lake County Sheriff’s Office handcuffs and a cellular telephone containing images of Jacksen and Puckett posing in Lake County Sheriff’s Office uniforms with firearms were discovered, according to case documents.
On March 13, US District Court Judge William Alsup signed an order to sever the case of Mendonca from his codefendants.
“Having heard a long day’s worth of testimony over the truthfulness or not of the search warrant affidavit, the Court is concerned that the case against Eric Mendonca has been built on innuendo and surmise rather than admissible evidence and that possibly he is an innocent man,” the order stated.
“Mr. Mendonca wants a speedy trial to vindicate himself, but his co-defendants do not,” the document continued. “The Court is further concerned that forcing Mr. Mendonca into a large trial, whenever it may eventually occur, with other co-defendants on unrelated issues will prejudice his right to a fair trial. Removing Mr. Mendonca from the mix will also simplify the later, larger trial.”
The March 13 severance order indicated Mendonca’s trial was to be set for late April, but just a few weeks after that order was filed, the US Attorney’s Office followed up by dismissing the indictment against Mendonca only without prejudice, which means the case could be filed again at a later time. Judge Alsup signed that dismissal order.
The cases against Mendonca’s codefendants, however, have proceeded, according to court records.
Jacksen reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. On April 16 a change of plea hearing was held for Jacksen before Judge Alsup, at which point documents indicated Jacksen pleaded guilty to one of the seven counts against him, namely, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The court accepted Jacksen’s plea and ruled he was convicted as charged.
The count carries a maximum prison term of 10 years’ imprisonment, a maximum three years’ supervised release and a fine that could go as high as $250,000, based on the indictment.
As a result of the plea agreement, the government will dismiss the remaining counts at sentencing, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. July 23. The matter was referred to probation for a presentence report.
In Pollack’s case, a motion hearing has been set for May 14, and a bond hearing for Puckett is set for Thursday, May 2, before Judge Laurel Beeler.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.