Police: Failed Drug Test Leads Man Back to Jail

Police say a 26-year-old Caledonia man is back behind bars after he violated his bond by failing a court-ordered drug test.

Randy Mercado was charged Wednesday in Racine County Circuit Court with a single felony count of bail jumping. If convicted, he faces up to six years in jail and/or up to $10,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, Mercado was out of jail on a $1,500 cash bond stemming from multiple felony drug charges filed against him last February. As part of the conditions for remaining free on that bond, the court ordered Mercado to undergo random drug tests and to "not consume or possess any controlled substances."

On July 19, Mercado underwent a routine drug test at the offices of Zimmerman Consulting, Inc. Officials at ZCI informed the court that Mercado's test results indicated the presence of opiates, the complaint reads. Drug tests on both April 23 and June 18 came back negative.

ZCI is the third-party monitoring firm for Racine County courts.

According to the criminal complaint from the February charges, officers with the Racine County Metro Drug Unit arranged a heroin buy from Mercado with a confidential informant. A search warrant of Mercado's home turned up a pill bottle containing a substance that tested positive for marijuana and a user kit that contained items that tested positive for heroin.

Mercado was charged Feb. 6 with felony counts of possession of narcotic drugs, repeater and maintaining a drug trafficking place, repeater; three felony counts of manufacture/delivery of heroin; and a misdemeanor count each of possession of marijuana, repeater and possession of drug paraphernalia, repeater. 

If convicted of these charges, he faces over 50 years in prison and/or more than $95,000 in fines.

Mercado remains in the Racine County Jail, and his bond has been modified to $1,000 cash on the bail jumping charge and to $20,000 cash on the drug charges. 

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