More Charges for Alleged Drug Dealer

Caledonia police say a man already facing felony drug charges is also accused of beating up a woman at a wedding reception.

Randy Mercado, 26, was charged Thursday in Racine County Circuit Court with a felony count of substantial battery and two felony counts of bail jumping. He was also charged with misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 15-1/2 years in jail and/or up to $31,000.

According to the criminal complaint, Caledonia police were called Aug. 17 to Wheaton Franciscan St. Mary's for a report of a woman who said Mercado beat her up in the parking lot at the Round-About on Douglas Avenue. The woman said Mercado got into a fight with another man and when she tried to break it up, Mercado turned on her, punching her repeatedly even after she fell down.

Police say a witness at the party, however, said the woman was angry with her boyfriend because he called another woman, "baby." When she swung at her boyfriend, she instead hit Mercado, and he responded by punching her repeatedly.

Officers attempted to contact Mercado at a relative's house, and that person said Mercado was jumped by five or six people in the parking lot after being beat up by the woman at the hospital, the complaint reads.

On Aug. 27, the woman picked Mercado out of a photo line-up as the man who attacked her at the Round-About on Aug. 17.

Mercado was already in custody at the time of he was picked out of the line-up because he failed a court-ordered drug test administered on July 19. He was ordered by the court to not consume or possess controlled substances as part of the bond he posted in February when he was charged with multiple felonies involving the sale of heroin. He was also ordered not to commit any additional crimes.

The defendant remains in the Racine County Jail on $1,000 cash bond on the these new charges, a modified bond of $1,000 cash on the bail jumping charge and $20,000 cash on the drug charges. 

He will have his preliminary hearing on the battery and all the bail jumping charges Sept. 5 and is scheduled for a plea hearing Oct. 7 on the drug charges.