by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Four years ago, when Paul Perez went from being a partner in Booth Arnold & Perez to the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, it wasn’t like moving from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees. The change was even more extreme. The Yankees and Sox both play baseball, but as U.S. attorney, Perez is totally on the other side of the legal fence.
During his years in private practice, Perez spent most of the time as a criminal defense attorney trying to keep clients either out of jail or negotiating for shorter sentences and other punishments. Today, he’s throwing them in jail for as long as he can. The change is fine with Perez, who spent a decade in private practice before getting his appointment in March of 2002.
“Everything is going well,” said Perez. “We are extremely busy and are doing a lot of things in the district.”
The Middle District of Florida is enormous and meanders from Jacksonville southwestward through Orlando and Tampa into the Ft. Myers area. Its diversity and proximity to major bodies of water, makes the district a prime area for running drugs — specifically cocaine. And, Perez is out to stop as much drug trafficking as possible before his appointment ends, probably sometime after the nation elects a new president in November of 2008.
In the past two-and-a-half years, Perez’s office has helped confiscate about 300 tons of cocaine. That’s $15 million worth of coke that never made it to the street.
“We have probably the largest narcotics interdiction program in the country. It’s called Operation Panama Express,” explained Perez.
The concept behind Operation Panama Express it to seize the drugs and the dealers or traffickers before they ever set foot on American soil. Many of the drug-wielding boats are intercepted in the Eastern Pacific or Caribbean basin. Perez said the operation is run in conjunction with the Navy and Coast Guard.
In addition to waging the war on narcotics, Perez is also involved with a national initiative created recently by United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Perez is one of 16 U.S. Attorneys that Gonzales appointed to a national advisory committee that meets every few months in Washington, D.C.
“We advise the Attorney General on various initiatives and programs,” said Perez. “It’s a real honor and it’s fun. All the members are chairs of a subcommittee and I am the chair of the civil rights committee.”
Like he did in 2004 when Pres. George W. Bush was re-elected, Perez will resign from his position. Unlike 2004, the new president probably won’t reappoint him. If that happens, Perez said he’ll probably go back into private practice.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” he said. “I am having so much fun, I’m not thinking too far ahead.”