A former Blakely police officer who resigned in May amid animal abuse charges faces new counts after authorities said he stalked his ex-girlfriend while illegally possessing multiple firearms with an active protective order against him.
Lackawanna County Detectives arrested Anthony Mercado, 35, 603 Hickory St., Peckville, on Thursday, charging him with four felony counts of possessing a firearm with an active protection-from-abuse order, or PFA, against him and two misdemeanor stalking counts, according to charging documents. Detectives also filed a contempt charge against Mercado on Friday, according to a court docket. Last week, Jessup police charged Mercado with two misdemeanor harassment counts and a summary offense count of harassment, according to a criminal complaint.
Mercado was previously charged on June 5 by the Humane Society of Lackawanna County with misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals and neglect of animals after Humane Society Officer Marci Zeiler received an April 29 report of a dog in poor condition at Mercado’s home, including an attached photo of what appeared to be an emaciated dog, according to a criminal complaint. The following day, Zeiler and Police Chief Guy Salerno accompanied Mercado to his Hickory Street home, where they found three dogs, two of which were dirty and scored a 4 out of 9 on a body condition score scale; a third dog — a boxer named Reya — scored 1 out of 9, according to the arrest paperwork. Zeiler reported that “every bone in her body was visible,” and she had an open sore with extreme swelling on her front right paw, open sores on her front left paw and urine staining her paws, according to the complaint.
Salerno declined to comment on the new charges Friday because Mercado is no longer with his department. Mercado resigned May 29 prior to facing disciplinary action within the department stemming from the animal abuse charges, Salerno said.
On July 10, Mercado’s ex-girlfriend contacted Jessup police to make a complaint about harassment from Mercado, Officer Zachary Wargula wrote in a criminal complaint. The woman sent police several screenshots showing messages from Mercado through various modes of communication, despite telling him several times that she wanted to be left alone, police said. Mercado attempted to contact the woman through email, his cellphone and multiple fake numbers after she blocked his other methods of communication, according to Jessup police. Mercado continuously asked the woman to speak to him, unblock him and talk things out; she told him numerous times to leave her alone, Wargula wrote in the complaint.
Mercado also made vague threats to “send revealing pictures and/or other information” to her employer if she did not communicate with him, police said.
Mercado’s ex-girlfriend obtained a PFA against Mercado on July 10, and Lackawanna County sheriff’s deputies served him with the paperwork the same day, according to county detectives.
A week later, Lackawanna County Detectives filed additional charges after the Blakely Police Department received a complaint regarding a PFA violation against Mercado, according to a criminal complaint. Blakely police felt it was a conflict of interest and sent their reports and information to the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Detective Joseph M. Blazosek wrote in the arrest paperwork.
The woman met with Blazosek on Wednesday, telling him that she and Mercado began dating in 2022. She tried to break up with him in 2023 but stayed out of fear because of his behavior, she told detectives. Mercado told her that if she ever left him, he would kill her, according to the criminal complaint. Mercado demanded — and received — access to all of her social media accounts and had her location active on his phone at all times, detectives said.
His ex-girlfriend told detectives that he would often drive by her home in Jessup while he was on duty in a marked police vehicle, as well as using unmarked, undercover police vehicles, according to the complaint. Mercado also told his ex-girlfriend that he would use the Blakely Police Department’s license plate reader to see if her vehicle had traveled through Blakely, according to detectives.
When she tried to break up with him in May after his animal abuse charges came to light, Mercado called her 70-plus times and used texting apps to message her after she blocked his number, according to the complaint. She told him she would contact his police chief if he didn’t stop driving past her house, but he responded that he didn’t care and “had nothing left to lose,” according to the criminal complaint.
He also told her he had “pictures, messages and information” about her and her family that he “will use against her if need be,” according to detectives.
The woman told detectives she was picking up food at a restaurant on Main Street in Peckville on Sunday when she spotted Mercado at a car wash across the street. When she left the restaurant, Mercado followed her through town until she arrived at the traffic light from Terrace Drive onto Business Route 6 before he turned around and drove off; the woman reported the incident to Blakely police, who referred it to the district attorney’s office, according to the complaint.
On Wednesday, Mercado’s ex-girlfriend said she and her mother were having dinner at a restaurant on Main Avenue in Taylor before going to West Scranton to dog sit. When they turned around on a side street, they spotted Mercado’s black GMC SUV parked nearby, causing his ex-girlfriend to fear he had placed a tracking device on her vehicle, according to detectives.
Detectives went to Mercado’s Hickory Street home on Thursday to serve a warrant and took him into custody without incident, according to a criminal complaint for firearms offenses. Mercado’s fiancée, Melissa Zawicki, who was also previously charged with misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and abuse, told detectives there were firearms in the house with Mercado’s police uniforms, prompting detectives to get a search warrant for his home, according to the complaint.
Detectives executed the search warrant Thursday night, finding and seizing an AR-15 rifle, two Glock handguns and a .22-caliber long rifle, according to the complaint. Mercado is prohibited from possessing or acquiring firearms for the duration of his PFA, detectives said.
Mercado is in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail with a preliminary hearing July 28 at 10:30 a.m.