“This is for snitching”: Florida man facing potential 20 years for attack on witness

FLORIDA – A Florida man has pleaded guilty to a retaliatory attack on a federal cooperating witness.

Aurelio Luis Perez, 55, of Miami, has pled guilty to retaliating against a witness in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1513(b)(2), said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO).

Perez faces a maximum term of imprisonment of up to 20 years.

According to the USAO, Perez assaulted a federal cooperating witness at a Miami club on September 4, 2021, just several days after the victim was identified as a government witness in a federal criminal trial. Allegedly, Perez followed the victim into the restroom and assaulted him at the urinal while yelling, “This is for snitching,” in Spanish.

Reportedly, because of the assault, the witness suffered inflammation, bruising, lacerations to his lip, and a cracked front tooth. The victim did not know Perez.

Court records indicate that Perez was a close associate of another individual under investigation at the time of the attack. Perez’s associate was subsequently charged for his role in allegedly distributing over $230 million of adulterated HIV medication.

U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola will sentence Perez on June 5 in Miami, Florida.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Region; and Special Agent in Charge Kyle A. Myles of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Atlanta Region, made the announcement.

HHS-OIG Miami and FDIC-OIG investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Abraham of the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Alexander Thor Pogozelski of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 22-cr-20253.