Worried about his father’s whereabouts in August, 2018, Tom Perez phoned Fontana, California, police to file a report. Minutes later, Perez fell under suspicion of murder.
Police on the scene claimed Perez acted “suspiciously” upon questioning. Officers also noted broken furniture and discarded items belonging to Perez’ father. Blood evidence was also found. Perez attributed these findings to recent home renovations.
Following the search, Perez was brought to the station for what turned out to be a 17-hour interrogation, and a confession to a murder he didn’t commit.
Unsuccessful in their early grilling, officers brought in the suspect’s best friend to help coax an admission. “They got you on murder, man,” the friend can be heard saying on closed circuit video. “Impossible,” Perez replied, waving his arms.
When the friend, who later reported regretting his involvement, failed to get Perez to confess, interrogators did the unthinkable. They brought in Perez’ dog, Margo to ply their suspect.
“Good girl,” Perez mooned upon seeing his true bestie. Perez fell to his knees and cuddled her. But this was far from a happy reunion.
“You killed him, and he’s dead,” an officer seated across from him said as Perez wept. “And your dog is sitting here looking at you, knowing that you killed your dad.” Detectives then suggested that Margo might have to be euthanized because she’d witnessed such a “traumatic event.” Detectives then left Perez and Margo alone in the interrogation room. “I just want to hold her, and not let go,” he said.
“They took her out of the room sometime after that,” Perez told CNN. “It felt like the end of the world for me. I was now in their little box of horrors,” Perez said. “I felt like they were my captors, and there was nothing I could do.”
“I’ve never, ever seen a situation where the police bring a dog . . . into an interrogation room and use it as a tool to seek a confession,” said Jeff Noble, a Perez-hired police expert. “It’s unconscionable.”
Throughout the interrogation, Perez told officers he suffered from a mental health condition. But he was denied help. Sleep-deprived and weary, Perez finally confessed. He reportedly later tried to commit suicide using his shoelaces. Perez’ lawyer, Jerry Steering, said that officers clearly led Perez down a path to self-incrimination and destruction.
“They attacked me at the things I love the most: my fur baby and my father,” Perez said. “I couldn’t see the reason to continue with more pain.”
All this time, Perez’ father was alive and well and waiting to catch a flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix. However, officers continued to detain Perez even after his sister filled in these details. And, they never told him his father was alive.
Instead, Perez was placed on a psychiatric hold at a local hospital. Days later, a nurse informed Perez that his dad was on the phone. “I just dropped to the floor, crying,” he said.
Thomas Perez Sr. recalled his son’s first words to him after the harrowing incident: “He said, ‘Dad, is that really you?’” We both had tears in our eyes.
Perez filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Fontana.
“When you [engage in] deceptive action that causes an innocent person to confess to a crime they didn’t commit, that’s where the [legal] line is crossed,” police expert Noble said.
In a video deposition, one of the officers defended his actions. “We were just attempting to get some information from Mr. Perez . . . we were running out of things to say to him to get the answer about where his father was located,” Sgt. Kyle Guthrie, said.”
To date, there’s been no internal review and none of the officers involved have been disciplined. Several have actually been promoted.
Perez settled with the city for $900K. However, the settlement specifically included no finding of wrongdoing. The city claimed Perez had been given his medication and was fed several times.
“No amount will ever compensate me for what I went through,” Perez said. Indeed. His trauma has given Fontana’s Blue a black eye.