Police say that Officer Scott A. Mounger, 49, was indicted Monday by a grand jury.
According to a release, on November 13th, the police department was notified of apparent significant discrepancies in Mounger’s testimony during the prosecution of a Driving Under the Influence case in Newport News General District Traffic Court. The department immediately began a criminal investigation into alleged perjury by Mounger.
After an extensive investigation which included a number of interviews, the case was presented to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office which requested a special prosecutor to handle the prosecution of Mounger.
A special prosecutor reviewed the facts of the case and had it presented to the Grand Jury.
On Monday, the grand jury returned indictments against Mounger for one count each of perjury and falsely summoning or giving false reports to law-enforcement officials.
Mounger was arrested around 5:15 P.M at the department’s South Precinct and was later released on his own recognizance by a magistrate pending a court appearance in Circuit Court tomorrow.
Police Chief James Fox believes Mounger's arrest could cause trust issues for the police department. "There will be part of the community that will say you can't trust them and we'll have to deal with that," said Fox.
Fox said the department asked a lot of tough questions about various cases but the officer's arrest could have an affect on other cases.
It will be up to the Commonwealth Attorney if any of Mounger's previous cases will be reviewed.
Mounger Joined the Newport News Police Department on February 22, 2005 and was assigned to the Department’s South Precinct as a patrol officer. He is presently on administrative leave without pay.
He's due in court in April.
Source:WVEC