FBI probing family ties between Providence police chief and accused fentanyl trafficker

PROVIDENCE – The family relationship between an accused fentanyl trafficker and his uncle, Providence's newly appointed police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, has drawn interest from FBI investigators for about a year now, according to former Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Paré.

FBI agents in Massachusetts have talked with Paré about Perez more than once, focusing on whether Perez might have done anything inappropriate to help his nephew, Paré said, adding that he holds Perez in the highest regard.

During the talks, which continue, Paré said, the FBI has also shown interest in the relationship between the chief's brother, Providence police Sgt. Andres Perez, and the same nephew, Jasdrual "Josh" Perez.

Paré said he has not learned anything through the dialogue that has changed his perception of either of the longtime Providence police officers.

"Their integrity is beyond reproach," he told The Providence Journal on Tuesday.

He made his comments in the aftermath of a WPRI report on the situation.

Paré declined to comment in any detail about the nature of the FBI's inquiry into the two brothers and their nephew.

Federal prosecutors accuse Jasdrual Perez, 33, of running a drug-trafficking organization. They say that federal investigators raided Perez's homes in February 2022 and seized 10 kilograms of suspected fentanyl, including fentanyl within more than 50,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills and $80,000 in proceeds from the operation.

On Thursday, Oscar Perez acknowledged he had been interviewed by the FBI.

Calling the situation "frustrating and disappointing," he declined to provide specific comments on his discussion with the agency but emphasized he has done nothing inappropriate.

"Absolutely not," Perez said. "I'm very proud to be a Providence police officer. I picked this profession for a reason. I am focused on the mission. I will never jeopardize or embarrass the badge that I wear so proudly."

Perez said he told Mayor Brett Smiley about the FBI's inquiry into the situation before Smiley chose him as Providence's 38th police chief. He said he was "very transparent" about his nephew's arrest and the FBI's contact with him about it.

A lawyer for the chief's brother said that ethical and procedural rules prevent him and Sgt. Perez from commenting on the specifics of any pending investigations.

"Rest assured that Sgt. Perez has not wavered in his willingness to assist and cooperate in the prosecution of any individuals," the lawyer, Michael Colucci, said in an email.

Colucci added, "It would be terribly unfair to infer anything inappropriate simply because a relative may have chosen a wrong path to follow, a path that the sergeant is and was completely disassociated from."

A spokeswoman for the FBI, Kristen M. Setera, declined to comment on the matter.

Chief Perez said he has about seven nephews, including Jasdrual Perez.

Asked to comment on his nephew's behavior, he said, "I'll say this. There was some concerns, definitely. But I have been estranged from my family because of some of these concerns and the recent arrest."

"The immense support I have received both internally from the men and women of the department and the community," said Perez, "reminds me of the impact I have made in this community and in the department for the last three decades."

The case: Jasdrual "Josh" Perez accused of being 'Starbucks barista for fentanyl'

Jasdrual Perez was arrested in February of 2022.

He and another man were accused of a conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

An investigation dating back to September 2019 had found that the two men had distributed large quantities of controlled substances to customers in numerous locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York.

In federal court in Boston last summer, a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Sean Geary, told a judge that in conversations intercepted by federal agents, Jasdrual Perez had talked with an unknown man who was suspected of buying fentanyl pills from him.

Perez told the man that he needed "to sell at least 10,000 pills to this individual in order to have it … be worth his while," Geary says in a court transcript. Perez wanted to charge $3 a pill, he said.

The pills at issue in the discussion were fentanyl disguised as oxycodone, Geary said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey E. Weinstein told the court that Perez could provide pills in specific colors.

"He makes custom orders of these pills," she said. "He's essentially a Starbucks barista of fentanyl pills in the Rhode Island-Massachusetts-New York area."

Perez had expressed an understanding of how dangerous fentanyl is in one phone call, she said.

She said Perez told a woman he owned five trucks, 12 houses, two apartments in Colombia and 12 other houses.

Geary said Perez was an owner of two Rhode Island nightclubs: Lovera RIP and Rebel.

Weinstein told the court that Perez had been arrested by Rhode Island State Police just after he crossed the Rhode Island line on a trip from New York.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case continues in federal court.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: FBI probing ties between police chief and accused fentanyl dealer