A former Detroit police officer who pleaded no-contest to stealing $27,000 from an auto-theft tip line showed up drunk Friday at the Wayne County Jail, where he is serving weekends, a prosecutor and jail officer told a judge today.
Wayne Circuit Judge David Groner was disturbed, especially after learning that Stevie Perry had also violated jail rules on Nov. 13 when he tried to sneak a cell phone,iPod and Tylenol pills into the jail in a sealed plastic bag in his underwear.
Perry, the department’s 2001 officer of the year, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge in October in exchange for dismissal of five felonies, if he agreed to make full restitution by his Jan. 27 sentencing date. As part of his deal, Perry was granted permission to begin serving his 32 days in jail on weekends before his sentencing date, and receive two years of probation.
A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such during sentencing.
Wayne County Sheriff’s Lt. Pat Owen, who oversees the jail’s work release and tether program, said Perry was visibly drunk when he was dropped off at the jail Friday. Groner said his blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit of .08 for a Michigan motorist to be charged with drunken driving.
Owen said Perry was held in the jail’s segregation unit for the weekend and released at 9 pm. Sunday, as his agreement states.
Perry’s lawyer Paul Bernier said his client was very sorry for his actions.
“What he did was unacceptable and he knows that and he accepts that,” Bernier told Groner. “It did happen and he apologizes.”
Groner said he was also concerned that he never learned about the Nov. 13 jail violation, in which Perry was also placed in segregation for the weekend after trying to sneak in the cell phone and other items.
“I’m pretty amazed you would conduct yourself like that given the fact that you were a police officer all these years,” Groner said.
The judge also wondered whether Perry received special treatment due to his police officer status because the Nov. 13 violation never landed Perry in court.
“If the average Joe does something like that, I guarantee you I would have heard about it,” Groner said.
In the end, Groner ordered Perry to submit to Breathalyzer tests before he enters the jail each weekend. If he tests positive for alcohol of commits any other violations, Groner told Owen to hold him past the weekend.
Perry, who resigned as part of his plea deal, was accused of depositing reward checks from the tip line into his personal bank account between June 2007 and November 2008. As an officer, Perry investigated auto thefts.
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