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Perez, Dunn Plead Guilty in Bridgeport Police Department Conspiracy

Bridgeport Police Chief Armando "A.J." Perez leaves the Brien McMahon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse out a back door on Thursday in Bridgeport, Conn. Perez was arrested Thursday on federal charges that he rigged the police chief hiring process.
Jessica Hill
/
Associated Press
Bridgeport Police Chief Armando "A.J." Perez leaves the Brien McMahon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse out a back door last month in Bridgeport, Conn. Perez pled guilty to federal charges that he rigged the police chief hiring process.

The former Chief of Police and Personnel Director for the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and lying to the FBI on Monday. Both will be sentenced in early January.

Armando Perez resigned as Bridgeport’s police chief and David Dunn left his post at city hall after they were arrested by the FBI last month. Perez and Dunn admitted to conspiring to help Perez pass a test that would get him chosen Chief of Police in 2018.

Dunn also admitted he tried to sway members of the job selection committee by saying that Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim wanted Perez to become chief. Dunn said he lied to FBI investigators about it.

Ganim served seven years in federal prison for corruption charges related to his first run as mayor in the 1990s. He was re-elected Mayor of Bridgeport in 2015 and has denied any wrongdoing related to the alleged job-rigging conspiracy.

Cassandra Basler, a former senior editor at WSHU, came to the station by way of Columbia Journalism School in New York City. When she's not reporting on wealth and poverty, she's writing about food and family.