Dade Medical College CEO Ernesto Perez Resigns

Ernesto Perez, Dade Medical College’s president and CEO, resigned from his position with the college less than a week after being charged by the Miami State Attorney’s Office with a felony and two misdemeanors.

Last Friday, Perez was charged with “one count of providing false information on a sworn statement and two counts of perjury not in an official proceeding relating to his actions undertaken to expunge a criminal arrest and relating to his appointment and re-appointment to the Commission on Independent Education.”

Alfredo Soler, Dade Medical College’s Homestead Campus Director, confirmed Perez’s resignation. In a memo to employees, Perez stated leadership of the college would transition to co-CEOs Jonathan Janeiro and Raul Mendez. 

In an interview with the News Leader on Wednesday, Janeiro stated the charges should have no affect on Dade Medical College’s future plans in Homestead.

“Our focus will be on continuing the mission of the college and making sure that these developments do not negatively impact our faculty, staff and students,” Janeiro said.  “We are focusing on looking forward.   

According to Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the charges came after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation. 

“We are going to let this play out in the criminal justice system,” said Carlos Trujillo, Perez’s attorney, in an interview with the News Leader on Tuesday. “We should have some direction in the next couple weeks. He is now awaiting his arraignment.”

According to the arrest warrant, Perez, failed to acknowledge his 1990 criminal arrest for the charge of a second degree, sexual assault of a child, his pleading “no contest” to the misdemeanor crimes of battery and exposing genitals to a child, his conviction by a Wisconsin court and his 180 day jail sentence on “Senate Confirmation Questionnaires” filed with the State of Florida in 2009, 2011 and 2012. 

The notarized documents were used for Perez’s appointment and re-appointment to the state Commission of Independent Education.

The investigation also found that on February 27, 2012, Perez completed an FDLE, Application for Certification of Eligibility to expunge a Miami area arrest in 2002. As part of the expungement process, Perez submitted a sworn and notarized “Affidavit in Support to Expunge” to the Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in September 2012, stating that he had never been adjudicated guilty of a criminal offense or a comparable ordinance violation. Based upon the sworn affidavit, the Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit issued an order expunging Perez’ 2002 arrest on October 16, 2012.