Ex-cop avoids prison, but more criminal charges loom – Iowa Capital Dispatch

A former police officer who admitted to repeatedly stalking a woman and also striking a man in the face will not go to prison for the crimes if he abides by the terms of his probation, court records show. Walter Pacheco, 28, of Pleasant Hill, was convicted this week of felony willful injury and misdemeanor stalking, to which he pleaded guilty in July in Polk County District Court. A judge ordered a seven-year suspended prison sentence and five years of probation. Pacheco will be required to wear a device that tracks his location for the first three years of that probation. The judge also ordered Pacheco to undergo mental health and substance abuse evaluations and seek treatment if the evaluations recommend it. Pacheco had sought deferred judgments for the crimes, which would have allowed him to avoid being a felon and would have enabled him to expunge information about the court cases from the public record. Prosecutors indicated they might seek a prison sentence in light of subsequent allegations of continued harassment of the woman, but Pacheco’s attorney argued that they were bound to the plea agreement that did not include a prison sentence. Pacheco faces numerous criminal charges for
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