SACRAMENTO POLICE DEPARTMENT
News Release

Release #05-22-03
May 22, 2003
For Immediate Release

Media Office 916-433-0808 

Capt. Sam Somers
Sgt. Justin Risley, PIO
PIC Audrey Lee
 
 

Internet: www.sacpd.org 

Jose "Joey" Perez Captured in Mexico:
Suspect in Highway 50 Shooting Sought for Seven Months



SACRAMENTO, CA--Michael A. Mason, Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento Division of the FBI, and Chief Albert Nájera of the Sacramento Police Department announce that Jose "Joey" Perez, age 23, was arrested yesterday in Mexico.  Perez is a suspect in the fatal shooting of a fourteen-year-old boy on Highway 50 in Sacramento, which occurred on November 12, 2002.

Perez was arrested at about 7:00 p.m. yesterday evening.  Based on recent investigative leads, Mexican authorities and a Special Agent assigned to the FBI's Legal Attaché Office in Mexico City were looking for Perez in the town of Acambro, which is located in the State of Guanajuato, approximately three hours from Mexico City.  Perez was spotted walking down the street and arrested without incident.

Perez has agreed to waive formal deportation proceedings, and is expected to be flown back to Los Angeles, California tonight.  He will be met by a Homicide Detective from the Sacramento Police Department and an Agent from the Sacramento Division of the FBI, who will return him to Sacramento.

Investigators had been seeking Perez for seven months.  On November 13, 2002, state charges were filed in Sacramento Superior Court, charging Perez with firing several shots from a handgun into a car traveling westbound on Highway 50 and hitting a fourteen-year-old boy in the head.  The victim later died of his wounds.  The FBI obtained a federal arrest warrant charging Perez with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution on November 18, 2002.

This arrest is the result of an extensive joint investigation by the Sacramento Police Department's  Homicide Unit and the Career Criminal Apprehension Team, a multi-agency team led by the Sacramento Police Department.  According to Mason, "This arrest could not have been made without the close cooperation of the Sacramento Police Department, the FBI and Mexican authorities.  We work best when we work together."

                               Media Contacts: FBI - Special Agent Nick Rossi  (916) 977-2258
                                                                 SPD - Sergeant Justin Risley (916) 433-0809