10th former officer at FCI Dublin women’s prison pleads guilty to sexual abuse
By Tim Fang
A former officer at the shuttered Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin has become the 10th employee convicted in connection with a sexual abuse scandal at the prison, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California announced that David Perez pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually abusing two inmates. Perez also admitted to making false statements to federal investigators, prosecutors said.
According to the plea agreement, Perez was employed at the Federal Bureau of Prisons beginning in Sept. 1994. From Oct. 2014 through Aug. 2019, Perez was a Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) at FCI Dublin, a low- and minimum-security federal prison for women.
As the DHO, he adjudicated disciplinary actions against inmates accused of misconduct and issued punishments if he found them guilty.
Prosecutors said Perez served as the disciplinary officer for a female inmate in four separate hearings between 2014 and 2015. Perez found her guilty each time and ordered her into the Special Housing Unit, along with other sanctions.
Between Aug. 2015 and 2016, Perez repeatedly met with the inmate alone in the Captain’s Complex at the prison and abused her several times, according to prosecutors.
Perez also served as the disciplinary officer for another inmate in 2016, sentencing her to more than two weeks in the Special Housing Unit. Prosecutors said Perez abused the inmate on multiple occasions after her release from the unit.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Perez spoke with agents from the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General and the FBI in 2024, falsely stating that he had only touched female inmates when escorting them to and from disciplinary hearings.
Prosecutors said Perez was released on bond. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the count of sexual abuse of a ward, two years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of abusive sexual contact. Perez also faces eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the count of making false statements.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 25, 2027.
The prison, which has been dubbed the “rape club”, has been at the center of a years-long investigation into rampant sexual abuse. Nine other former prison employees, including former warden Ray Garcia, have been convicted in the scandal.
FCI Dublin was closed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2024.
