Rafael Pérez (police officer)

Ray Lopez (born Rafael Antonio Pérez; August 22, 1967) is an American former police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the central figure in the LAPD Rampart scandal.

An officer with the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) task force, Pérez was involved in numerous crimes and corruption, notably the shooting and framing of Javier Ovando, in addition to the theft and resale of at least $800,000 of cocaine from LAPD evidence lockers.

Pérez is accused of being a member of the Bloods, a Los Angeles criminal gang, and of murdering The Notorious B.I.G. at the behest of producer Suge Knight of Death Row Records.

When Pérez was finally arrested, he implicated 70 other Rampart Division officers in various forms of misconduct, ranging from bad shootings to consuming alcohol while on duty.

Over 100 convictions were overturned based on Pérez's testimony.

Pérez was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico in 1967 and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1972; some months later he moved to Paterson, New Jersey, and then he would eventually move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1982.

Pérez graduated from high school in 1985 and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he was stationed in Maine and California.

He was hired by the LAPD after leaving the military in 1989.

Prior to this, he had been passed over for hiring by background investigators from several other departments in Southern California.

He also looked and acted in a "gang like" manner.

After serving on routine patrol duties, Pérez was transferred to a narcotics unit in 1992.

In 1995, he was transferred to Rampart Division and assigned to CRASH, an anti-gang unit given a long leash by the LAPD.

Pérez gained a reputation as a tough and effective officer, valued for his fluency in Spanish and his knowledge of L.A.'s gangs.

On October 12, 1996, Pérez and his partner Nino Durden shot and framed an unarmed gang member Javier Ovando.

Ovando, who was left paralyzed, was sentenced to 23 years in prison based on the officers' false testimony.

On November 6, 1997, fellow CRASH officer David Mack and two accomplices stole $722,000 during a robbery at a Bank of America branch near the University of Southern California campus.

On August 25, 1998, Pérez, then age 31 and a nine-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, was arrested for stealing 6 lb of cocaine from a department property room.

(The theft was originally suspected to be an attempt at framing fellow officer Frank Lyga in retaliation for the shooting of Pérez's friend, Kevin Gaines.) The cocaine was estimated to be worth $800,000 on the street.

His December 1998 trial ended as a mistrial.

To avoid a second trial and the possible conviction of his second wife, who according to authorities may have known about Pérez's illegal activities, on September 8, 1999, he cut a plea bargain with authorities.

In his plea bargain he revealed the Rampart scandal in exchange for immunity for his misconduct.

In February 2000, Pérez was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing eight pounds of cocaine from an LAPD evidence locker.

At his sentencing, Pérez read a statement in which he said, "I cheated on my wife. I cheated on my employer, and I cheated on all of you, the people of Los Angeles".

On July 24, 2001, due to his plea bargain Pérez was released from prison and placed on parole.

Pérez pleaded guilty to new charges resulting from the shooting of Javier Ovando.

He was charged with 2 felony counts; (1) conspiracy to violate Ovando's civil rights; (2) Possessing a firearm with an eliminated serial number, the firearm was used as evidence to frame Ovando.

He was sentenced on May 6, 2002, to serve two years in federal prison.

He was released in June 2004.

Pérez pleaded no contest to lying on his application for a California driver's license on June 30, 2005.

Pérez was sentenced to an additional three years' probation and 300 hours of community service.

After his release from prison he settled with his family in Inglewood.

On October 31, 2006, Pérez pleaded no contest to a felony count of perjury before the Torrance Superior Court.

Pérez, who legally changed his name to Ray Lopez, was arrested in July by Department of Motor Vehicles investigators while visiting his federal parole officer in Inglewood.

Then in 2006 he had a second divorce.

He then moved and lived in many cities like Redondo Beach and San Diego and had a series of different jobs.

He currently lives in Chino Hills and, as of May 2015, is reported to work as a limo driver.

He was seen driving for producer Harvey Weinstein.

The credibility of Pérez has been undermined by his testimony in several internal affairs investigations in which three officers, including Brian Liddy, accused of crimes or misconduct were found not guilty or the charges were dropped.

He has failed several lie-detector tests and has made several errors in his testimony in the past.

The issue of Pérez's credibility has already led to at least 5 cases of either dropped charges or acquittal.