Former Chief Perez Released From Prison

File image: AJ Perez leaving federal court house. Courtesy Steve Krauchick, Doing It Local.

Former Police Chief A.J. Perez, imprisoned last May for scheming to rig the 2018 test for top cop has been released from the Gilmer Federal Correctional Institution in Glenville, West Virginia.

Unclear if Perez has been released to a halfway house or directly to home confinement to fill out his one year and day sentence meted out by U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley. Under federal sentencing guidelines defendants receive good time for any sentence above one year.

At sentencing last April Judge Dooley told Perez “you have suffered extraordinary consequences” citing public humiliation and heavy financial loss that has included $300,000 in restitution and hefty attorney fees. But she also added, “You end your career in law enforcement as a convicted felon.”

Prior to sentencing, a contrite Perez told the judge, “I am so sorry … I did this to myself and I panicked.”

Perez panicked about his inability to finish as a permanent chief finalist without the benefit of test questions in advance unavailable to other applicants. He prevailed upon underlings and then Personnel Director David Dunn to coach him on questions. When confronted by federal authorities Perez lied about the assistance.

The FBI already had the goods on Perez, that he had conspired to rig the test utilizing help from underlings and Dunn to receive an unfair advantage over other police chief candidates, when he agreed to interviews in connection with the investigation. In such a situation federal investigators generally already know the answers to questions they ask to gauge veracity. Perez lied on many occasions. He also lied to his lawyer and he also lied to the public.

For additional background see here.

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28 comments

  1. Good luck to him. I hope he is able to get his life in order without his best friend Joe Ganim et al who help get him where he landed.
    Staying away from the restaurant on Suburban would be good advice to begin with.
    Cheers!

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  2. I don’t know Rich, Joe owes Perez and Dunn now. They fact that Joe seemed to get off scott free in this whole case tells me that Perez & Dunn kept their mouths shut to the Feds about Joe’s roll in this…Joe owes them big time IMO.

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      1. Lennie,I think most of us who have followed AJ’s & Joe’s longtime friendship over the years can see the writing on the wall.Joe wanted AJ to be his chief,plain and simple. Hard for most to believe Joe didn’t orchestrate the directive to “make sure AJ comes in the top 3”.Who believes that Dunn sent or had the answers sent to AJ without Joe having any knowledge of what was going on??..

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        1. Harvey, David Dunn told the government he had no contact with Ganim during the selection process. Dunn did not want to go to jail. If he had any information culpable to Ganim, he’d have shared that with the feds. If Dunn had become a cooperating witness, given the circumstances of his shorter sentence, advanced age, etc, he’d have received zero prison time. As for AJ, same thing. He’d have coughed it up.

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          1. Yeah……sure. Other than give up some time in their lives for jail and the whole degrading embarrassment that they deserve, and other fines, fees and the monetary losses which were incurred, did they lose other benefits including pensions??? If they lost it all then maybe your right Len. Other than that you don’t think they could be “taken care of” and made whole behind the scenes? Everyone here pointed at me and said I was fabricating much of what I brought forward on this blog. They said it was personal. The opposite was proven.
            That’s a fact.
            You could be right, but then again, you were closer to them than I ever was. I just had better information than you. Or was it just that I was the only one being vocal about it?
            Cheers!!!

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          2. Rich, first off, who accused you of fabrication? Specify, please. Two, you also promised in this case…”more to come.” It didn’t happen? If your information is so solid, why not? Three, you’re suggesting after imprisonment, $300,000 in restitution, more than $100,000 in legal fees there’s some side deal to make Dunn and Perez whole? Where’s that coming from? Wouldn’t the federal government be all over that?

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  3. You did not but many accused me of having a personal Ax to grind and that I was spewing false info regarding the Defilippo case (before it became a case) AND some doubted when I spoke of Mario’s “round table espresso crew” that routinely met outside the back door on Suburban. Surely you know exactly what I’m talking about don’t you?!! You tell us who attended those regular meetings and which of those individuals have been interviewed by the Feds and/ or subsequently indicted. Tell us what benefits, lifelong or not, A J has lost? Dunn as well?? I asked the question, I did not say that ‘they’ ARE receiving back door benefits. And if that’s the case you would know that they aren’t??! LOL! And are you telling us that it’s all over and there are no more indictments in the future. Tell us if the Feds are done please. Ask The round table crew if it’s all over or if there is …….more to come! I’d like hear how the bugs got into the last restaurant in the JG 1 case without a certain person’s knowledge. Either way the point is that corruption has been and STILL IS in Bridgeport. Say it ain’t so!!!
    Cheers!!!!!!!!!

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  4. So Lennie, your position is Dunn, a 30 yr employee of the city,who didn’t ever want to spend time in prison,decided to knowingly throw his career down the tubes by sending the answers ahead of time to Perez, changing the qualifications of the test by not requiring a college degree, etc, etc, just because Perez asked him too, and Joe knew nothing about it and never asked Dunn to make sure Perez came in the top 3??… So when the indictments came down, Joe was in the dark about it all?…
    I’m not buying that for a second,Can’t convince me Joe didn’t give Dunn the orders to make sure Perez qualified.
    Joe is slick when it comes to these things, a convicted felon,maybe he didn’t directly ask Dunn on purpose because he knows it would of implicated him, but Dunn definitely got the “directive” from Joe most likely from others.I guess Dunn was never able to say, “ Joe told me”, therefore Joe,once again skirts an indictment.

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      1. There was a conspiracy between Perez and Dunn. Read my response to Harvey because your back-slapping predictions have been far from spot on. I must congratulate you on one thing Rich: your cynicism is spoken like a true local cop.

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        1. Lennie, I will take that as a compliment. Cops have the experience to not give everyone the benefit of the doubt especially if they have shady backgrounds and have been PROVEN to be involved in criminal activity as was your buddy JG. You were buddies right. I’ll stop there without saying the obvious since this blog is your home but I will continue with other comments you are wrong on down below.
          Cheers!

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    1. Harvey, yes, Dunn threw his career down the tubes. Joe Ganim never told David Dunn to rig the test to help Perez. He did not send an emissary to direct Dunn. How do I know this? Confirmation from both David Dunn and federal sources. Sometimes these things take on a life of their own. When Perez approached Dunn for help do you think Dunn internalized oh, my, this is against federal law? Cite another case in which people were charged federally for rigging a cop exam? Dunn and Perez were friends. Dunn helped his friend. Dunn knew AJ, a nice guy, lacked the brain power to finish in the top three on his own based on Perez blubbering for help. Dunn screwed up and got in way over his head. Dunn, on his own, told the testing examiner to bend the rules: the mayor wants this done. He freelanced it. If federal authorities believed Ganim had sent an aide to prevail upon Dunn to rig the test, it have splashed prominently in the publicly released timeline the feds crafted about the case. They’d have been all over that shit if for nothing else to embarrass Ganim because he’s always the big fish in these things. In Joe’s more than six-year return to the mayoralty the feds have examined a variety of different things. They will scour any little detail hoping it leads his way. This is the way it is for Ganim.

      Now, if you want to blowtorch Joe for appointing Perez chief after rewarding his past loyalty by naming him acting chief, be my guest. He deserves mountain ranges of shellacking. It was an idiotic, self-inflicted wound that became a gigantic toothache because Perez showed flaccid management skills as acting chief. Then it only got worse. You pontificated, as Rich, that Ganim was done, stick a fork in him, the scrap-metal nonsense leads to his office. Wrong. You pontificated, as Rich, that Ganim orchestrated the police rigging thing and he was done. Wrong again. Rich predicted the zoning approval of Michael DeFilippo’s liquor store would lead to specific indictments. Hasn’t happened. For now Rich’s consolation prize is DeFilippo’s indictment for messing with absentee ballots. I guess if you pontificate long enough something may happen regarding your zeal for Ganim to be charged. But when it comes to assertions Ganim orchestrated Perez into the top three police chief finalists you and Rich are dead wrong.

      I’m sure, soon, you’ll have other predictions.

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      1. Len, you are dead wrong. Defilippo‘s liquor store thing had nothing to do with anything that would involve the feds or even at a local level, law-enforcement. His deal was just a corrupt type of angling by using “preening politicians“ to cite the judges words, in attaining something that the average person would never have been able to attain. I forced him to fight his own fight and he, using Willinger et al, figured out a way the CHANGE THE LAW in such a manner that in the end even the judge had no choice but to allow his liquor store to open. My involvement cost him almost 5 years of grief and money and no business!! And who do you think the “et al’s” were. Please! Give me a break.
        I brought up his vote gathering methods long before he was indicted for that.
        You are not gaining any sympathy or understanding by anyone here, for defending your old pal Joe Ganim. Nor does anyone believe that you know and have proof that Joe had no involvement. Do yourself a favor and don’t stick your neck out for him. You already paid that price once.
        Cheers!!!!!

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        1. Rich, I stick no neck out for him. I spent five days on the stand testifying against him 20 years ago, as the government’s lead off cooperating witness. When people like you come on my site and spew misleading information I will continue to correct the record on behalf of my readers. You have no evidence Ganim orchestrated what you claim as fact. It’s as simple as that. The default for people like you is to bring up my past 20 years ago when I dare correct your BS. I will continue to do so. Rich, you were a local cop who preens exceptionality. God bless your service. You haven’t a clue, as a local cop, nor the contacts in the federal government to know what goes into these investigations. You come on here and pretend you’re right and everyone else is wrong. Two years ago when I told Maria Pereira she’ll not turn my site into a circus emasculating everyone she dislikes you made all kinds of assumptions about what happened. It’s what you generally do, no basis in fact, just assumptions. You wrote two years ago, after Pereira was gone, well I’m not sure I’ll be posting on OIB much longer. Two years later you’re still here and I welcome that. Do I need you on this site? No. You can decide whether you want to stay or go. Or I can do it for you. You will not fabricate on my site.

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    2. AJ Perez is a nice guy and is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.. As for Dunn in was quid quo pro,” Dunn was allowed to stay as the Acting Personnel Director for 12 years without taking a test for a position in the City Charter, Dunn received all the benefits. Remember Dunn started off with John Mandanici as mayor and Dunn new were the bodies where buried so that was valuable to Ganim and Finch and then Ganim. For 12 years Finch, Ganim kept Dunn in a poistion that was in violation of the charter and for 12 years the entire city council said nothing and did nothing.

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  5. Lennie,you present your case for Joe to 500 taxpayers in this city,and all 500 wouldn’t buy it,Joe’s reputation precedes him.But I respect your loyalty to your friend Joe.

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    1. Really, Harvey, and what 500 taxpayers would you present this case? You’re an expert now on voter preference? Ever run a campaign for public office? Ever conduct a public opinion poll? You’re such a genius you voted for Trump in 2016, right? You gonna poll the East Side where Ganim’s standing is strong with Hispanic voters? Go into Black Rock where it’s not? Again, your default when it comes to Joe is to bring up my past when I correct your cluelessness about what occurred regarding Perez et al. Please, Harvey, go back and read all your misplaced prognostications in the OIB comments section.

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      1. Geez Lennie,that’s alot of questions..
        1..what 500 taxpayers would you present this case? ……Hmmm, how about I stand in front of City Hall and ask the first 500 who go in to pay their taxes?..That seems fair

        2. Ever run a campaign for public office?…No,but I was treasurer for my senior class.

        3.You voted for Trump in 2016, right?..Felt like I had no choice,didn’t trust Hillary at that point..But I did vote for Biden last time around.

        4.Go back and read all your misplaced prognostications in the OIB comments section…Ok,but to be fair,I was wrong alot,but I did have some that were right..

        Have a good night Lennie,

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  6. Hey Lennie, you say, “The default for people like you (Rich) is to bring up my past 20 years ago.” It gets old doesn’t it Lennie? Didn’t I just comment to you about Ernie and his past, yet here you go excoriating Rich for doing the same. Ernie like you, no longer lives in his past!

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    1. No DD, I defended Ernie’s past based on state government intrusion. I did not bring up his federal past but the dubious state charges against him. Big difference you don’t want to recognize. Please go back and review what I wrote. Of course, if you so chose to accuse me of tearing down a black man because I defended that black man, so be it. But, don’t ever again accuse me of tearing down people because of race. Don’t do it…because you and I are not good.

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  7. Play nice people.

    Lennie, Comrade DD’s optical eyes are trained to see things in such ways. Like everybody I guess. “people see what they want to see” ~ RT

    Race, white, black is the driving force behind this story, nationally. I have very little doubt about that in my mind. When the hook of the story is two domestic violence white women missing/death cases, and the lack of reporting on the national news level by national news outlets among black missing/death cases. How could you not?

    However, that racial news bias is also accompanied by an anti-Americanism/racist white supremacy narrative about this country. Is this bias of national media coverage more about lack of black national media coverage or America? Ponder on that?

    Because the Port had a Jennifer Dulos/Gabby Petito case. When a black male nurse dismembered his black girlfriend. I don’t recall any national media coverage, protest by community leaders, council members, activists, calling for justice for Alyssiah.

    America was present, no? Where was the media? Was this story not sensational enough for the national media or to garner protest and outrage among the community and its leaders?

    Comrade Day, you excoriate Lennie, marginalized OIB based a far-reaching assumption about him/OIB to tear down a black man, Ernie, who is a proclaim ex-drug user. I knew plenty of people who smoked cocaine and that is a long hard road of destruction and recovery that usually ends and starts with, humility and jail/rock-bottom. Besides Moses of his people is like the Teflon Don of Port politics. He made national news by taking a drug test over a quarrel with another Port public office on OIB.

    That’s our current state of politics, conjured up racism on one hand, and praise God on the other JS

    Although, your comment was more about blackness in general considering you excoriate Ernie plenty of times on OIB for vote “white”.

    How would those optical eyes of your see if the national media when on and on like they did about Petito or Dulos of a black man dismembering his girlfriend who went missing in what the other silent side of the media calls the “missing white woman syndrome of America”?

    Do you think you would be able to come up with something about the media and blackness like you did with Lennie? Does any person really want that? There might be a broader point/issue to be made though.

    To credit the state they tried the case three times, twice he got off. It took three trials and 5 years to get justice for Alyssiah.

    The crux of this case is what happened to Lauren on that date with that older white man, as described by the national media? We can have plenty of assumptions but at the end of the day, the handling and processing of the scene have been compromised without a full understanding.

    It’s not like the BPD isn’t already in a shit storm of incompetence. This thread speaks for itself. But if the accusations are true, provable and a case is to be made about the lead Det. of a cover-up of what really took place as the attorney for Lauren’s family and Lennie featured, stated in his suit against the city/BPD. Like I said, “this is not a drunk person hitting some parked cars people,” The shit is going to hit the fan, trust me, shit splats and it going to splat all over the city and the department in the national media. It’s going to make Mark’s racist text look like a “fender bender”.

    P.S to the particular thread, It is not like Joe didn’t want, or anybody didn’t know he wanted AJ to become Chief. Remember that episode with the outgoing mayor, Finch, and renewing Gaudett’s contract, that the city had to out so Joe can “appoint” JA to acting chief. Joe didn’t have the write Dunn an essay letting him know his wishes. We can take about the execution of Dunn and AJ’s qualifying process for what seemed like a foregone conclusion when Dunn and the consultant he hired was picked the final three. More Dunn though in that regard, but Mark’s FBI wire of AJ just showed another level. JS

    At any rate, scotomisation

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfL5f6cZlk8

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  8. To be fair, while people want to see what they want to see it is undeniable that politics/police abuse is a race card game that has more to do with the game than honest governance or police abusive behavior.

    Case in point, you had a white police officer who was arrested and convicted on charges of threatening and breach of peace in 2015 in a DV case. He was sent to an administration role for 5 years in which he was able to recertify and return to active police duty, and you had the president of the NAACP and the Guardians, an organization of police officers calling on the mayor to do the right thing and relieve him of his duties.

    (Full disclosure I don’t know this officer’s history of DV by no means am I condoning his bullying/abusive behavior, This is a big dude to be hitting and intimating his female partner. JS )

    Then you had a black officer, the president of the Guardians, who got into a fender bender and actually pull out a city resident from his van, gave him a beat down, threaten him, sending him to the hospital.

    https://connecticut.news12.com/bridgeport-naacp-all-black-police-organization-call-for-officer-to-be-removed-from-the-force?fbclid=IwAR0PVd1r-gMqrpL1jW-LMqf8ioNVycEgdVs9Y9LvLy4H8SGhwyHLYp8F-wI

    He was not fired on the spot.
    No one in the community called for his firing or had fair about the safety of the city residents.
    He received 6 months of probation in which his case/charges were dismissed.

    Is anybody honestly going to tell me that race doesn’t play more of a role in police abuse/politics than justice?

    I will depart this discussion with the Prophet Eminem. 🙂

    Play nice people, Peace out IOB. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryr75N0nki0

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