42-year-old Zachary Perez, an Iraq war veteran, was caught on camera inside a Miami home allegedly abusing and torturing his 6-year-old stepson over the course of two days.
Disturbing, newly-released surveillance video shows what prosecutors describe as horrific case of child abuse at the hands of a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and father figure.
According to court documents obtained by Miami’s NBC6, 42-year-old Zachary Perez, an Iraq war veteran, was caught on camera inside a Miami home allegedly abusing his 6-year-old stepson over the course of two days.
In one clip of the video, also obtained by the outlet (below), Perez is seen dressed in black, holding a pink dog leash allegedly wrapped around the child’s neck. Another video captured outside the residence allegedly shows the boy running with a backpack full of rocks, investigators said.
Additional footage reportedly showed Perez kicking the child in the living room and again inside a bedroom. The abuse left the child with swollen eyes, scratches across his body, whip marks from a tree branch, and a rash around his neck from the dog collar, according to the police report.
State prosecutors described Perez’s alleged behavior as part of a dangerous pattern.
“He’s a ticking time bomb,” Assistant State Attorney Lily Wisset said during a court hearing earlier this year.
Since Perez’s arrest, multiple alleged victims from his past have reportedly come forward to claim they also experienced abuse at his hands. Prosecutors said there are currently about five injunctions filed against Perez, including one involving his 14-year-old daughter, with allegations ranging from domestic violence to repeated abuse.
Perez’s legal team pushed back, arguing in a May hearing that the child’s mother had asked Perez to help raise the boy and was okay with him disciplining him. But prosecutors countered, saying, “the evidence didn’t show that.”
Per Law & Crime, he was facing one count of aggravated child abuse resulting in great bodily harm at the time.
Perez’s mother, Barbara Perez, defended her son, telling the court that he suffers from PTSD, hearing issues and lingering health problems from his service overseas. She added that he had been deployed three times.
Perez has since been placed on house arrest and is receiving mental health treatment while awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty and was ordered to stay away from the child and the boy’s mother.
If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
Court Filing/Getty
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