A former Poconos police officer who was previously convicted of bribery was sentenced for a related perjury case.
On Sept. 19, former Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department Cpl. Steven Mertz, 59, of Lehighton, was sentenced to three months to three years in prison by Monroe County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jonathan Mark for perjury after pleading no contest the same day. Six other counts of perjury were dismissed in exchange for the plea.
Mertz was previously accused of having sex with a woman in exchange for not filing a DUI charge against her after a traffic stop in October 2019. He was found guilty of third-degree felony bribery and second-degree misdemeanor obstruction of justice but was acquitted of sexual assault-related charges in a March 2022 trial…