Turns out we under-reported something last week.
Indeed, that’s because while we did note that the man who was accused of slamming a dog to the ground had been arrested on a warrant charging him with aggravated assault and weapons offenses in a Newark stabbing, we didn’t know, at that moment, the same man had been arrested by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in 2021 on drug-distribution charges.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court of New Jersey, that man, Joel Perez, 43, of Kearny, was arrested March 11, 2021, after the feds executed a search warrant on a trailer Perez possessed in Newark, where authorities believed he was selling illegal drugs.
When the warrant was executed, law enforcement said it “recovered approximately two bags of a mixture and substance that investigators believed, based on their training and experience, the appearance of the substance and the investigation to date, to be cocaine.”
Authorities said they also recovered a small scale used to weigh narcotics and a metal spoon with suspected cocaine residue on it. Authorities also said a field test of the substance revealed “the presence of cocaine.”
The DEA said Perez was, at the time, charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. The disposition of that case, however, if there even is one yet, was not immediately known.
Meanwhile, The Observer has learned Perez, who was arrested May 4 on the aforementioned stabbing-related aggravated assault warrant, was released from the Essex County Jail just hours after he was committed — on his own recognizance. Which, in laymen’s terms, means $0 bail.
Man from Kearny seen throwing dog to ground in video now charged with Newark stabbing, reports say
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.