Nearly six years after police pushed him to confess to a murder that never happened, Thomas Perez Jr. received an $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.”