Court records reveal close relationship between Mesa sergeant, drug suspect he allegedly tipped off

PHOENIX — Mesa Police Sgt. Edward Fire lived above and was “drinking buddies” with the drug suspect he tipped off about an impending search warrant, according to court records.

Fire was charged with first-degree hindering for warning Jason Rawlings on March 10 of a Chandler SWAT team on their way to serve a search warrant, which was related to a narcotics investigation, according to the Chandler Police Department.

The Mesa Police Department is conducting its own internal investigation into the sergeant’s actions and has placed Fire on unpaid, administrative suspension pending the outcome of both reviews.

Fire has worked for the Mesa Police Department for 18 years.

Mesa sergeant was on duty when he alerted drug suspect

According to court documents, Fire was on patrol when he received an alert about Chandler police serving two search warrants in the area, one of which was at Rawling’s residence.

Phone records shows that Fire proceeded to text Rawlings: “Are you home?”

To which Rawlings responded: “I am.”

There was then a 58-second phone call between the two. Records noted that it was the first time they talked on the phone in the approximately five months the two had been communicating.

Following the call, a drone video showed Rawlings exiting his apartment with a backpack and putting it into the back of a pickup truck driven by a man identified as Jose Mena before going back inside.

Mena was stopped after leaving the apartment complex and officers found the backpack, which contained a Polymer80 semi-automatic handgun, approximately 30 grams of methamphetamine and three grams of cocaine. Mena told police he didn’t know about the backpack or its contents before being arrested for his own warrants as well as other drugs and a stolen handgun he admitted was his.

Rawlings texted Mena after he left, asking if he saw police anywhere.

In addition, Rawlings made a call to his girlfriend Michele Plagmann, which he later told detectives was to inform her about the impending warrant. When Plagmann was later interviewed, she told detectives Rawlings knew about the warrant because his friend, who is a police officer, warned him.

Before police served the search warrant, Rawlings was also visited by Angela Lopez, who was the subject of the second search warrant. Lopez would go on to tell investigators that she intended to buy drugs from Rawlings, but was told to leave because he was about to be “raided by the police,” court records said.

Rawlings admits to authorities that a cop warned him about the search warrant

When Chandler police served the search warrant at Rawlings’ apartment, he admitted to stashing the backpack in Mena’s truck. However, he initially told authorities that a friend saw SWAT staging at a nearby church before confessing he had a friend who worked as Mesa patrol officer who he’d known for about six months that told him.

Afterwards, Fire showed up at the apartment complex in his Mesa PD supervisor vehicle and asked Rawlings if he was okay before trying to talk privately to the detective who was watching him but they refused.

Fire questioned what was going and mentioned that he lived in the complex before leaving. Rawlings then told the detective that he knew Fire as a “drinking buddy” and would not confirm or deny if he was the one who warned him.

Mesa sergeant proceeded to get rid of his cell phone

On March 11, the day after the search warrant was served, Fire used his work phone to text multiple contacts and tell them that he had lost his cell phone and would be using that one until he got a new one.

When his ex-wife, Sophia Fire, asked him if he had tried to track it, Fire claimed he had left it on top of his car before driving off and it had probably been run over, according to court documents.

He noted that he needed a new phone anyway.

Phone records show Fire and Rawlings had daily communication

Police pulled Rawlings’ cell phone data from August 2025 through March 2026 and found more than 300 text messages between him and Fire.

The records showed that the two texted daily and frequently made plans to drink and attend concerts together. It was also noted that Fire knew Rawlings had been previously incarcerated.

During a March 11 call while Rawlings was in jail, his girlfriend told him that Fire had approached her and told her he didn’t have anything to do with the situation.

According to records, Rawlings responded that he thought it was weird Fire sold him a gun and then the search warrant happened. He added that the sergeant wouldn’t admit to that after his girlfriend told him Fire played dumb about the gun when she asked him.

Court records said investigators were unable to tie the gun to Fire because it had no serial number.

Fire’s first appearance in court is scheduled for May 26.

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