The Bridgeport police chief has been charged with rigging the search for his own job to ensure he was awarded the six-figure top cop position back in 2018, officials announced Thursday.
Chief Armando Perez, 64, and David Dunn, 72, the city’s acting personnel director, were arrested Thursday and also charged for lying about the scheme to federal investigators, the office of Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss announced.
“Bridgeport’s citizens and police officers deserve leaders with integrity who are committed to enforcing, not breaking, the law,” said Strauss in a statement, “and we thank the FBI for their partnership in investigating and uncovering the scheme alleged.”
After Perez allegedly cheated his way to the position, the 37-year veteran of the department became Bridgeport’s highest-paid civil servant in 2019, raking in $461,061 that year, the Connecticut Post reported.
Perez, who was the acting chief at the time of the search, allegedly worked with Dunn to fix what was supposed to be an impartial and objective hunt for a permanent chief.
Dunn oversaw the city’s examination to find the next police leader and is accused of undertaking various efforts to make sure Perez was among the top-three scorers.
Dunn allegedly fed Perez material that was to be included on the exam and labored to make sure scoring criteria favored the veteran cop. The chief meanwhile is accused of tapping two other Bridgeport cops to secretly pen his written exam.
Both then allegedly lied to FBI investigators in an attempt to cover up their fraud.
“Today’s arrest of city officials including a high ranking, long-time law enforcement officer is a stark reminder that the betrayal of public trust and community members by a public servant is not only unethical but often illegal,”said FBI Special Agent-in-Charge David Sundberg in a statement.
Perez was slapped with a count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of false statements to federal investigators.
Dunn was also hit with one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of false statements to federal investigators.
If convicted both men could face a maximum of more than 40 years in prison.
