By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A man serving time in Norton prison after being convicted on several Marion County charges is now seeking to withdraw his guilty pleas in two cases, based in part on the fact the Marion officer who arrested him, Mike Stone, later lost his law enforcement credentials; and in part on his allegations that Stone was brutal and threatening.

Jonathan L. Mangold, 30, was sentenced Oct. 2 to 30 months in prison for possession of morphine, possession of THC, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while his license was canceled, and transporting an open container of alcohol. He was ordered to pay $1,298 costs, $150 attorney fee, $210 fines, with the sentence to run consecutive to an earlier case.

In that case, he was convicted June 19 of possession of methamphetamine, interference with law enforcement, possession of THC, battery of a law enforcement officer, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison and ordered to pay $293 court costs.

Mangold’s hand-written motion to withdraw his pleas claims he was “threatened and coerced” into pleading guilty.

According to the motion, Mangold alleges Stone told him on June 6 if he “didn’t take it all and prevent case going to trial, he’d harm one of my family members.”

Mangold claims Stone withheld evidence of police brutality from the affidavit filed in the case.

Mangold claims that on June 3 Stone “illegally searched my person after I was the passenger in a vehicle” and “did not warn me, or ask that I turn around to be searched, he just reached for my crouch area, in doing such I jumped back and he tackled me, cuffed me up, then jerked me bodily by my left arm, once he had me on my feet he wrapped both hands around my throat and slammed me to the ground still cuffed. Then, once off-duty officer Mueller arrived, they walked me over to truck … and leaned me against it, then slammed me on the payvement, after which he placed his knee in the crook of my right arm and proceeded to grind my right elbow into the payvement, so exssesivly I had to receive medical treatment at the hospital and to this day have permanit scarring.”

Mangold contends “Officer stone was forced to resign from the Marion police department due to withholding a domestic violence charge from his application and shoudn’t of been a officer at said time and his word is not creditable to any degree.”

Stone’s last day on the job was Aug. 5. He resigned after a complaint submitted July 10 to the state Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training asserted that a 1995 domestic battery incident in California, and Stone’s conviction in the matter, disqualified Stone from serving as a police officer.

County attorney Courtney Boehm said she is not aware of any precedent for someone withdrawing a plea on an allegation that an officer was disqualified or too rough during an arrest.

Marion police chief Tyler Mermis did not return a call.

Mangold’s profile on Kansas Department of Corrections’ website lists 17 convictions dating back to 2008 and 53 prison disciplinary reports.

Mangold is also suing Marion County for $1 million, claiming he was treated with “cruel and unusual punishment” in jail.