Not long after the state Supreme Court tossed his original felony convictions and ordered two new trials in 2016, former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez started getting a city pension worth $2,328.76 a month
But now that Perez has pleaded guilty to taking a bribe and attempted extortion, the state wants that flow of money to stop.
Attorney General George Jepsen is asking a state court judge to either revoke or reduce Perez’s pension, saying that the crimes the former mayor committed were related to his public office and can therefore be clawed back under state law.
The lawsuit, filed in Hartford, lists both Perez and his wife as defendants, “since she may claim an interest in her husband’s pension benefits.”
Perez’s criminal attorney, Hubert Santos, said last month that the pension issue would be contentious.
“We’re going to have to fight on that,” Santos said.
Efforts to reach Perez’s attorney in the pension case, Bart Halloran, were not immediately successful.
In July 2016, the state’s high court overturned Perez’s initial convictions. According to the city, he then began getting his city pension in October of that same year, and he’s eligible to receive it until his death.
Perez pleaded guilty last month to charges he accepted a bribe in the form of deeply discounted home renovations from one contractor, and that he tried to extort another when he was mayor. He left office after his original conviction in 2010.
Copyright 2017 Connecticut Public Radio
