Ex-cop asked for sex act. His trial for unlawful compensation is about to start
Prosecutors will be allowed to introduce evidence suggesting that a former Lauderhill police officer derived sexual pleasure from a punch in the groin, a Broward judge has ruled.
Thomas Merenda goes to trial Monday, charged with one count of battery and one count of unlawful compensation.
According to prosecutors, Merenda responded to a radio call early on May 24, 2012, from fellow officer Franklin Hartley, who had lured two female customers of the Vegas Cabaret on North University Drive to the back of a tire shop at 7300 W. Commercial Blvd., threatening to arrest the driver and ultimately having sexual relations with the passenger.
Merenda, according to police reports, asked the driver to gratify him with a punch.
“Merenda reassured [the victim] that it was okay to punch him in that area because it turned him on,” according to one police report. “Merenda stated that if [the woman] refused, then the girls would not be permitted to leave.”
He got what he asked for, prosecutor Justin McCormack said in the August hearing where Hartley pleaded no contest to two counts of unlawful compensation and one count of battery. Hartley is set to be sentenced Dec. 7.
Defense lawyer Eric Schwartzreich, representing Merenda, said it would be a challenge for the state to prove Merenda received some kind of illegal benefit from his alleged actions. “Getting hit there is not a benefit,” he said. “To call that unlawful compensation is stretching the definition of the term.”
Potential witnesses in the case against Merenda include women who are prepared to testify that he enjoyed being struck between the legs and at least one expert on the fetish of pain associated with sex.
Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan is allowing the women to testify under what is called the “Williams Rule,” a Florida law that permits testimony that is not directly related to a case if it shows a pattern of conduct relevant to the charges.
The women were awarded $6.2 million in a federal civil lawsuit that was uncontested. The officers lost their jobs shortly after they were charged in 2013.
Jury selection starts Monday.
Rafael Olmeda may be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.