Inset: Zachary Perez (Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center). Background: The Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (Google Maps).
New details have emerged in the disturbing case of a 42-year-old man in Florida accused of abusing his 6-year-old stepson, allegedly beating, kicking, and whipping the child with a switch while also placing a dog collar around his neck and repeatedly yanking it hard enough to pull the victim off his feet, among other various forms of criminal mistreatment.
The defendant, Zachary Perez, is currently facing one count of aggravated child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.
Perez appeared in a Miami-Dade courtroom on Tuesday, where prosecutors with the state attorney’s office asked Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Richard Hersch to keep him in detention pending trial, referring to Perez as “a ticking time bomb,” according to a report from Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.
Additional allegations against Perez were revealed through statements from law enforcement officials who testified during the hearing about what they saw on surveillance footage from inside the family’s home and the condition the alleged victim was in when they arrived.
In addition to the alleged beatings and use of a dog collar, the deputies said that Perez also forced the 6-year-old to run while wearing a backpack filled with rocks.
“The defendant had beat, punched him in the face multiple times, put a dog leash around his neck,” a deputy with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office reportedly said. “He had swollen eyes from being hit, he had numerous marks from the tree branch. He had a couple of scratches, a couple of bruises. He had a rash on his neck from the collar.”
The deputy also recounted text messages Perez allegedly sent to the victim’s mother after she reported his allegedly abusive behavior to authorities.
“He said ‘Get home,”” the deputy testified. “He was going to make her pay. He said, ‘You’ll remember Mother’s Day.’”
Assistant State Attorney Wily Wisset told the court that since Perez’s arrest, her office had received multiple calls from women previously involved in relationships with the defendant who claimed to have witnessed or experienced similar abuse at his hands and were afraid of him, Miami NBC affiliate WTVJ reported.
“He freaks out. He threatens to kill them. He says he will kill his ex-wife, his kids, he’s going to kill everybody. And he threatens them with a gun,” prosecutors reportedly said.
Testifying on behalf of her son, Perez’s mother reportedly said he suffered from a traumatic brain injury and PTSD as a result of his time serving with the Marine Corps in Iraq. She asked that he be placed on house arrest so he could receive mental health treatment, but Hersch ultimately rejected the request. He granted prosecutors’ request to keep Perez in pretrial detention but also allowed the defense to present the results of a mental health evaluation in the future.
As Law&Crime previously reported, on the evening of Thursday, May 8, 2025, Perez and the child were both in their family home in southwest Miami-Dade County when Perez punched the little boy in the face with a closed fist several times. The punches reportedly caused the child to suffer multiple bruises.
Later that same evening, Perez allegedly grabbed a dog collar and fastened it around the boy’s neck. Holding an attached dog leash, authorities said Perez repeatedly positioned himself behind the victim and forcefully yanked the leash, pulling the boy to the ground.
Additionally, investigators said that Perez kicked the victim in the stomach multiple times and used a piece of a tree branch — sometimes called a “switch” — to strike the boy, Miami NBC affiliate WTVJ reported.
Perez is alleged to have abused the boy in this manner for two days before authorities were called to the home on Saturday, May 10.
Perez remains in detention at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.
