A South Florida man who avoided prison after accepting a plea deal in the abuse of his 6-year-old stepson with a dog collar is back behind bars, jail records showed.
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Zachary Perez, 43, was booked into Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Monday on a probation violation warrant, jail records showed.
According to a Fort Lauderdale Police incident report, Perez is accused of violating a restraining order that had been issued in January.
Perez is accused of calling the victim, his ex-wife, on May 22, violating an injunction for protection against domestic violence, the report said.
The ex-wife didn’t answer the call, but investigators confirmed the call came from his number, the report said.
Jail records showed Perez was being held without bond.
Perez had been arrested last year for aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm but later pleaded guilty in exchange for serving two years of community control with a GPS monitor followed by 10 years of probation.
According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Perez struck the victim with a closed fist several times, kicked the child in the stomach, and at one point struck him with a tree branch.
An arrest report also said Perez then put a collar on the child and yanked him until he fell backward to the ground.
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Perez was also ordered to pay over $10,000 in restitution in the case.
At a hearing in the case, Perez’s mother said her son, who is an Iraq Marine Corps veteran, had PTSD, hearing problems, and had surgeries after he served overseas three times.
Before Perez accepted the plea deal offered by the Miami Dade state attorneys office, NBC6 exclusively spoke to the child’s mother, who was furious Perez would get a lenient sentence.
“It’s an absolute slap in the face considering what he has done to my child and the trauma he caused,” she said.
Despite her cries for the deal to be denied, Perez was allowed to accept the deal which avoided time behind bars.
NBC6 reached out to the child’s mom for comment after the new arrest, but she denied to comment.
Perez will remain in jail until his alleged violation is addressed before a judge.
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