When a young relative accused Wilfredo Romeo Perez of sexual abuse, detectives say a routine forensic step suddenly cracked open a Koreatown cold case that had lingered for nearly three decades. Court filings state that DNA collected in the newer investigation was uploaded to a national database and came back as a match to biological evidence from a 1997 rape in Koreatown that had never been solved. Perez, arrested in 2025 in connection with the separate allegations involving a family member, has pleaded not guilty and is currently free on bond while prosecutors prepare new charges.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Det. Ernesto Escoto wrote in an April 7 affidavit that Perez emerged as a suspect after a young woman in his family reported he had been sexually abusive toward her for years. Investigators then uploaded Perez’s genetic profile to a national DNA database, where it reportedly matched evidence collected in the unsolved 1997 attack. Court records cited by the Times show Perez faces charges that include continuous sexual abuse of a minor and related offenses. He is scheduled to return to court next month.
Victim's Description And The Affidavit
Det. Escoto wrote that "Perez became a suspect after a young woman in his family reported he had been sexually abusive for years," according to the Los Angeles Times. The victim in the older case, who was 14 at the time of the assault, told detectives that a man offered her a ride to a pay phone, then pulled over and repeatedly raped her, threatening to kill her family if she told anyone. Medical personnel collected biological evidence after the 1997 assault, but investigators had no identified suspect until the recent DNA hit tied that evidence to Perez’s profile.
Backlog, Testing And Why It Mattered
Efforts to identify, inventory and test older sexual-assault kits have ramped up in recent years, but officials acknowledge that substantial backlogs still exist across California. A 2020 audit from the California attorney general reported nearly 500 untested kits statewide, most of them collected before 2015, and detailed new tracking systems and grant funding meant to move long-stored evidence into laboratories. That push has helped generate more matches between old evidence and known offenders. Investigators say uploading DNA profiles to national databases is now a standard step in sex-assault probes and that the searches in this case produced the crucial Koreatown match described in court filings. The state audit outlines the legislative and technical changes that helped make that kind of routine search possible.
Legal Stakes And Next Steps
Perez is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a minor, a felony under California Penal Code section 288.5. The statute carries potential prison terms of six, 12 or 16 years and requires sex-offender registration upon conviction. State law classifies the offense as a serious felony, meaning it can count as a strike under California’s three-strikes sentencing framework.
As the case moves toward pretrial hearings, prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to battle over how the DNA evidence was obtained, interpreted and linked to the old Koreatown file, as well as over the details in Det. Escoto’s affidavit and the more recent allegations. For now, the court will review the affidavit and the genetic match at upcoming hearings while prosecutors decide whether to take the revived 1997 case, along with the newer charges, to trial.
