A prison officer who was found out to have done shocking things to female inmates, has been sentenced to jail.
Eugenio Perez
A former Brooklyn jail guard convicted of s*xually abusing multiple female inmates was sentenced to 25 years behind bars Wednesday — after the judge teared up and thanked one of his accusers for speaking out.
“Thank you so much for coming forward and speaking your truth,” Judge Kiyo Matsumoto told the woman, identified only a Jane Doe 3, before ordering ex-Corrections Lt. Eugenio Perez to prison. “You were heard by the jury.”
“All I did was tell the truth,” the woman sobbed in response.
Four separate women testified they were forced to perform oral sex on Perez in 2016 while they were in custody at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center.
The 49-year-old was busted after the women all gave corroborating statements regarding Perez’s distinctive genitals — which he nicknamed “horse” — and federal agents procured a warrant that forced him to drop his pants.
“He wasn’t circumcised. It was big, and it was like a hook…It was humongous and it curved,” one of his victims testified during his two-week trial. Another described Perez’s penis as having a “really strong smell” that made her want to throw up.
Jurors, who were forced to look at photos of his penis, later convicted Perez on 23-counts, including aggravated sexual abuse and sexual abuse of a ward.
Perez cried Wednesday as he begged the court for leniency and maintained his innocence.
“I ask for mercy, not just for me but for my family,” Perez said through tears.
While Matsumoto declined to sentence the former officer to the maximum — he’d faced up to life behind bars — she noted she was deeply troubled by his conduct.
“These women were vulnerable and they were told by Mr. Perez more than one time, don’t report this, and if you do, no one will believe you,” the judge said before sentencing him to 25 years in prison.
As part of the sentence, he will also have to register as a sex offender.
Perez said he plans to appeal.
***