A former official at Federal Correctional Institution Dublin has become the 10th employee convicted in the sexual abuse scandal that led the federal government to close the East Bay women's prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said David Perez pleaded guilty Wednesday, Oct. 28, to sexually abusing two inmates and making false statements to investigators.
Abuse by the man who judged them
According to the plea agreement described by CBS San Francisco, Perez joined the Bureau of Prisons in 1994 and was FCI Dublin's Discipline Hearing Officer from October 2014 through August 2019, deciding whether inmates accused of misconduct were guilty and what punishment they got.
Prosecutors said he found one woman guilty in four separate hearings in 2014 and 2015 and sent her to the Special Housing Unit, then repeatedly met her alone in the prison's Captain's Complex and abused her between 2015 and 2016. He sentenced a second woman to more than two weeks in the Special Housing Unit in 2016 and abused her several times after her release, prosecutors said. In 2024 he falsely told FBI and Justice Department inspector general agents that he had touched inmates only while escorting them to hearings.
What's next
Perez is out on bond. Sentencing is set for March 25, 2027. The sexual abuse of a ward count carries up to 15 years in prison, and the false-statements count up to eight years.
FCI Dublin, a low-security prison for women, was closed by the Bureau of Prisons in 2024 after years of abuse investigations. Nine other former employees, including former warden Ray Garcia, were convicted before Perez.