Los Angeles, Ca
Fontana man coerced to make false murder confession settles with police for $900K
Nearly six years after police pushed him to confess to a murder that never happened, Thomas Perez Jr. received a $898,000 settlement from the city of Fontana.
On August 8, 2018, Perez called the Fontana Police Department to report his father had been missing for 17 hours.
By the end of the lengthy investigation, Perez confessed to killing his father – before learning that his father had been found alive and well.
According to reports by CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and more – the officers’ tactics were coercive and, at one point, led Perez to attempt to take his own life while he was still in the interrogation room.
On Thursday, Nov. 7, the Fontana Police Department issued a statement offering the department’s side of the story.
“This was a missing person’s case where officers and detectives followed unfolding evidence that pointed toward possible foul play,” says the statement signed by chief Mike Dorsey. “In the settlement agreement, the judge on the case noted that a reasonable juror would agree that officers had sufficient evidence to suspect a crime had been committed.”
Dorsey’s statement narrates that the case began with Perez’s call, saying his father hadn’t returned from getting the mail with his dog the night before. According to the report, the dog returned without Perez’s father – whose wallet, cell phone and keys were still in the house.
“We noticed the house – and particularly the father’s bedroom – was in disarray,” writes Dorsey. “The son explained that he had removed his father’s mattress and some clothing and had cleaned the house with bleach.”
That was when officers reportedly became suspicious of Perez and asked him to come to the police department for an interview. The department says Perez agreed and arrived voluntarily.
The LA Times reports it was during this interview that officers “alleged Perez had murdered his father and, when Perez denied the accusation, officers tried to convince him that he had forgotten the crime, according to a federal lawsuit, court records and video of the interrogation.”
CNN’s story alleges that amongst the accusations and tactics, officers even brought in the family dog and said she was suffering because she had witnessed the murder. The LA Times said officers told Perez the dog had walked through blood and would be sent away to be euthanized.
The Fontana Police Department did not confirm or comment on the involvement of Perez’s dog, but in a report by The Sun, a photo shows Perez cradling his dog on the floor of an interrogation room that reportedly was screen-grabbed from police video.
“In situations like these, it is acceptable and perfectly legal to use different tactics and techniques, such as ruses, to elicit information from people suspected of potential criminal activity,” says the police statement. “Were we perfect in how we handled the situation? Nobody ever is.”
Dorsey says that around the same time that Perez went to the station for questioning, officers spoke with a neighbor who described Perez as “mentally unstable” and said that he didn’t have patience with his father.
This neighbor also purportedly told officers that the morning the father went missing, someone else was seen driving his truck erratically, and it seemed there was something in the bed of the truck which was then parked in the garage, away from its usual parking spot on the street.
The department says officers used these details in a presentation of evidence to a judge and soon acquired a search warrant.
“During the search, we found blood on the staircase, carpet near the stairs, a couch, in the garage and in a bathtub and on the floor of an upstairs bathroom, adjacent to the father’s bedroom,” says the department.
Throughout the rest of the investigation, officers say they found more evidence of foul play and heard questionable comments from Perez.
For example, Dorsey said Perez asked officers to drive him around a golf course, during which, while they were near a pond, Perez allegedly asked the officers “Don’t bodies float?”
Toward the conclusion of Dorsey’s statement, he writes, “Sadly, situations like these can and often do end up as homicide investigations. We are so thankful this was not one of those.”
After the nearly $900,000 settlement was reached in the spring of 2024, CNN reports it reached out to Perez and his father who say they both continued to feel the effects of this incident for years and worked to help each other through it.
The future of voice to text is here.
I’ve been testing a variety of tools that make taking notes, transcribing audio, and even voice typing faster and easier than ever.
If you have a smartphone, you’re already halfway there!
Google’s Pixel Recorder app is free and built into their smartphone. It’s excellent for transcribing meetings, lectures, and conversations – all in real time.
Apple’s Voice Memos App recently added transcriptions if you’re upgraded to iOS 18.
Samsung’s Voice recorder app now offers transcripts too – as long as you’re on their latest One UI 7 software. (Check Settings > About Phone > Software Information)
Got an older phone? Try Otter.AI. It works great for transcriptions across devices and you get 300 minutes a month free.
Don’t want to tie up your phone?
I’ve been testing AI-powered digital audio recorders from a startup named Plaud.
The Plaud Note is thin, records for hours, and can even clip to the back of your phone to record calls. Just make sure you know your local laws before using that feature.
The Plaud Pin can be clipped to your shirt or worn on your wrist for hands-free recording.
Both devices sync audio to a companion app that auto transcribes and summarizes.
You get five hours of transcription a month included, with options to pay for more.
Pricing for each gadget starts around $160 dollars.
Want to transcribe audio files on your computer?
My favorite Mac app is MacWhisper. You can even get it completely free – although paid versions are avaialble with more features and options.
On Windows, check out Vibe Transcribe, also free.
And for a web-based option, Whisper Web gets the job done.
Finally, if you want to type less and talk more… there’s an excellent AI voice-to-text app called Wispr Flow. It was previously Mac only but just became avaialble for Windows, too.
One you install it, you pick a hotkey. Then, instead of typing just press and hold down that key and dictate what you want to write.
Since it uses the power of AI, you can even stumble or ramble and it will clean up your words and get the punctionation right.
It’s a gamechanger for responding to emails fast! You get 2,000 words free each week with options to pay for more.
Enjoy your newfound time!
An alleged attack on a state prison officer by a 43-year-old inmate transferred from Los Angeles County is being investigated as attempted homicide, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials announced Tuesday.
The March 18 incident at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad reportedly unfolded just before 9 a.m. on what authorities describe as a “dayroom floor.”
The inmate, Anthony G. Ramirez, is believed to have pulled an improvised weapon from his waistband before attempting to attack custody staff member, according to a CDCR news release.
“Staff immediately responded, disarming Ramirez and placing him in handcuffs without incident,” the release detailed.
The 43-year-old, who was transferred to SVSP in 2008 after being sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder, with enhancements for the use of a firearm and causing great bodily injury or death, was placed in restrictive housing pending the investigation and possible felony prosecution by the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.
Both Ramirez and the custody staff member were examined by medical personnel who noted no serious injuries.
Officials said that the California Correctional Peace Officers Association was notified of the incident and prison staff were offered peer support services and employee assistance programs.
Salinas Valley State Prison, opened in 1996, houses more than 2,400 minimum, medium, maximum and high-security inmates. The facility also offers vocational programs and academic classes and employs some 1,800 people.
A toxic algal bloom leaving an increasing number of marine mammals stranded along Southern California beaches shows no signs of subsiding and “will only get worse,” officials said Monday.
“This week, we saw more stranded dolphins (both alive and deceased) than we saw during the major domoic acid (DA) bloom in 2023,” Marine Mammal Care Center (MMCC) Los Angeles posted on Facebook.
Recent tests showed DA-producing algae levels have increased, and officials believe that trend will continue in the coming weeks. “We anticipate that it will only get worse,” the post read.
MMCC asked the public not to approach sick dolphins or sea lions on the beach because they can become aggressive upon awakening from a seizure.
“This is a safety issue for people and their pets as much as it is for the marine mammals,” officials said.
Beachgoers were also urged not to push stranded dolphins back into the water, saying it can reduce their chances of survival.
More information about domoic-acid poisoning can be found at https://marinemammalcare.org/domoic-acid/.
The volume of sick marine mammals has also had a financial impact on the MMCC.
“Our team is working heroically to respond to every call and to rescue every animal they can. Please share this post and give now at marinemammalcare.org/donate to give these marine mammals a second chance at life!” the MMCC stated.
Anyone who encounters a sick or stranded marine mammal can alert the nearest lifeguard and call 1-800-39-WHALE to make a report.
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