Perez Arrested Again

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The money is alleged to have come from real estate developer Joseph Citino to enable former State Representative Abraham L.,At a court hearing Friday, Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez entered a plea of not guilty to charges of attempting to commit the extortion of $250,000.

The money is alleged to have come from real estate developer Joseph Citino to enable former State Representative Abraham L. Giles, and Perez to allow Citino to buy and build on municipal property, according to the Hartford Courant. Giles, according to the New York Times, is currently charged with conspiracy and with attempted extortion with Perez.

At the hearing prosecutors petitioned the presiding judge to try the extortion case against Perez together with charges of corruption that are already pending against him. The judge presiding in the hearing, Superior Court Judge Julia Dewey, ruled that she would hold a hearing in October to determine whether or not to grant the prosecution's request.

Perez was initially arrested for alleged corruption in January. His Sept. 2 arrest marked the second time in less than one year that he was arrested due to claims of corruption and bribery, according to the New York Times. Among the other charges are, as written in the Courant, "fabricating evidence, and voter fraud." The above-mentioned developer sought to build a property on Main Street in Hartford.

Notably, Inspector Michael Sullivan, who is part of the State of Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice, alleged within an Aug. 28 sworn affidavit that enabled Perez's arrest, that a man named Raymon Arroyo claimed to Sullivan that Giles had "the ability to influence votes," but that Perez claimed that "he never discussed Giles' ability to vote with him [Giles]."

Also of note, in the same warrant application, Sullivan also alleges that upon examination it was discovered that "numerous telephone calls were found between Mayor Perez's cellular phone and various telephone numbers identified as belonging to Abraham Giles. for the time period July 2005-April 2007."

It may be easy to anticipate that the prosecution will utilize these allegations by Sullivan, even if solely as circumstantial evidence when pursuing the charges that are against Perez. Perez is expected to go to trial in February 2010, according to the Hartford Courant.

Perez first made headlines when he became Hartford's first Latino mayor after being elected for the first time in 2001. While he had grown up in poverty in Hartford's North End, he had risen to become the mayor of the city, which is both Connecticut's capital and one of the largest cities in New England. He was reelected in a highly publicized 2007 race.

Perez, in addition to holding a degree in economics from Hartford's Trinity College, was Trinity's director of community relations and one of its associate vice presidents.

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