CEDAR RAPIDS – A Mexican man who had been a fugitive from justice for nearly 15 years was sentenced to more than 3 years in federal prison.
Perpecto Rico-Perez, age 51, a citizen of Mexico, who was illegally present in the United States and living in Waterloo, Iowa, in the early 2000s, received the prison term after a July 21, 2020 guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien.
Information disclosed at sentencing and in a plea agreement showed that, on May 25, 2000, Rico-Perez and his brother went to Wildside Creationz, a former auto shop in Waterloo. While they were inside, an altercation ensued and Rico-Perez was shot in his right eye, his brother was shot in the chest and arm, and a third man was shot and killed. Law enforcement arrived and found close to two kilograms of cocaine inside the business.
Immediately following the shooting, Rico-Perez and his brother fled the scene and returned to Rico-Perez’s residence in Waterloo, where Rico-Perez’s young daughter called 911. In the late evening hours of May 25, 2000, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Rico-Perez’s residence. In a small cupboard above a bathtub in the bathroom, they recovered a .45 caliber handgun, which had been reported stolen less than six months earlier.
Rico-Perez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda Reade. Rico-Perez was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Rico-Perez is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew J. Cole and Special Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Waterloo Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
