Yuba County rape suspect returns after Arizona arrest

A Marysville man charged with violently raping and cutting a woman last year made his first court appearance Thursday after a nearly year-long manhunt ended in Arizona.

Investigator believe Jerardo "Jerry" Perez raped a 22-year-old woman and threatened her with a gun May 3, then cut the woman's thighs with a knife for sexual gratification, according to a probable cause declaration filed in Yuba County Superior Court.

Perez did not enter a plea and is scheduled to appear again Monday for further arraignment.

The woman suffered numerous cuts and bruises on her legs during the attack, as well as bruising in her mouth and anal tearing, according to the statement filed by the Sheriff's Department.

"We couldn't find him," Shiloh Sorbello, a Yuba County deputy district attorney, said of the lengthy search for Perez. "Investigators tracked him down to Arizona recently, and he was extradited."

Perez, 43, is charged with forcible oral copulation, forcible sodomy, forcible rape, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and making criminal threats, according to the complaint. Bail was set at $950,000.

"Without looking at any police reports or other records, we're not in a possession to comment at this time," Perez's attorney Geoffrey Heitman said.

According to court records, Perez lifted his shirt, displaying what appeared to be a firearm and, a short time later, ordered the woman into a car parked on Montclair Avenue.

Perez drove to an orchard near the Yuba River on Simpson Lane and climbed into the backseat with the woman. Perez began groping the woman and threatened and grabbed her when she tried to get out.

Perez forced the woman into numerous acts of oral copulation, sodomy and sexual intercourse.

He then cut the woman's legs and thighs and "became excited over the pain he was causing." At one point during the attack, the woman said, she was sexually assaulted with the firearm, according to the probable cause statement.

The woman eventually checked herself into a hospital for treatment and picked Perez out of a photographic lineup of suspects, authorities said.

Perez was on the run for nearly a year before he was found in Arizona. The date of his arrest was not available.

Perez has a lengthy criminal history in Yuba County dating back to at least the early 1990s, according to court records, on charges ranging from drug possession and theft to domestic violence and assault.

CONTACT Rob Parsons at rparsons@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4785. Find him on Facebook at /ADcrimebeat or on Twitter at ADcrimebeat.