Perryman pleads guilty

Rockville Centre resident Carl Perryman pleaded guilty in federal court last week to charges for which he could receive 25 to 30 years in prison.

Perryman pleaded guilty on Aug. 16 to two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and one count of discharge of a firearm, in connection with the shooting of a police informant.

The Rockville Centre Police Department spent three years working with the FBI to build a case against Perryman, who was acquitted two times prior in Nassau County Supreme Court in 2009 and 2010. The first involved the killing of a former childhood friend, David Baez, 27, who dated Perryman’s sister. Baez was shot and killed in May 2008, in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, after attending a birthday party there for Perryman’s father.

Less than a year later, Perryman was acquitted of the July 2009 attempted murder of 47-year-old John Bush, who police said was shot numerous times in the face and neck with a handgun as he was walking with Perryman on a footpath behind Old Mill Court.

Perryman, a member of the Bloods gang in Rockville Centre, was tried under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which allows prosecutors to try gang leaders for crimes they order others to commit.

“This was a goal of ours,” said Police Commissioner Charles Gennario, adding of Perryman, “He was a bad guy. The community is certainly safer with him behind bars.”

Perryman’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20 in U.S. District Court in Islip.