Is the Providence Police Chief Dirty? Alarming Details on Massive Drug Operation and His Family Are Coming to Light

As the investigation into the horrific Brown University mass shooting continues, public confidence in Rhode Island law enforcement has only continued to erode. After days of confusion, false starts, and unanswered questions, one troubling reality has become increasingly difficult to ignore: Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez’s leadership is now under intense and warranted scrutiny—and not just because of his department’s handling of the shooting.

Chief Perez is now facing serious questions about what he knew, or should have known, regarding a major drug-trafficking operation run by his own nephew—an operation federal prosecutors say thrived for years under the noses of local law enforcement. According to court filings, that nephew demonstrated an unusual and sophisticated understanding of police methods, raising deeply unsettling concerns about institutional failures, conflicts of interest, or worse.

To be clear, Rhode Island’s state and local law enforcement agencies have been under a microscope since Saturday’s mass shooting failed to yield immediate answers. That scrutiny only intensified after a person of interest was detained and then released, despite appearing—at least initially—to be fully implicated. Authorities still have not provided clarity on the shooter’s motive or whether the attack was politically or ideologically driven. Open questions remain about whether the victims were targeted because one was a College Republicans official—whose family insists she was targeted—or because the classroom belonged to an Israel-supporting professor.

No police chief would look good five days after a mass shooting with no suspect in custody. And no one is arguing that Chief Perez alone bears responsibility for every investigative failure. But leadership matters, especially in moments of crisis. And when serious allegations begin to stack up, patterns become harder to dismiss.

Those concerns deepened further with renewed attention on a 2024 federal case involving Chief Perez’s nephew, Jasdrual “Josh” Perez—described by prosecutors as one of the largest and most dangerous opioid traffickers ever sentenced in Boston federal court.

According to the Providence Journal, Perez “likely sold hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl – the deadly drug most responsible for the opioid epidemic that has been ravaging New England,” prosecutors said.

“Perez was one of the most prolific drug traffickers in Providence, if not all of Rhode Island,” they wrote in a memo ahead of his sentencing last year. He was given 22 years.

If Chief Perez had a record of outstanding leadership and operational competence, many would be inclined to separate his nephew’s criminal behavior from his own service. But that is precisely the problem—he does not. The department’s failures surrounding the Brown shooting have only magnified long-standing concerns about oversight and accountability.

While the Journal reported last December that federal authorities “do not accuse either the chief or his younger brother, Sgt. Andres Perez, of breaking any laws,” that statement stops well short of clearing them of ethical or professional responsibility.

From the Providence Journal:

In their memo, prosecutors detail Josh Perez’s family ties to both of his uncles on the force.

They salt their arguments with details that raise questions about matters they find significant: A correlation, for example, between the timing of Josh Perez’s rise in the New England drug world and the period when his uncles worked as ranking officers in the department. And a particular WhatsApp chat between Josh Perez and Andres Perez regarding a particular surveillance camera related to a federal investigation. …

Prosecutors also credit Josh Perez for hitting a level of “knowledge and technique for avoiding law enforcement” that is “rarely seen amongst drug dealers.”

Notably, Andres Perez—Chief Perez’s brother—served as head of the department’s intelligence unit during much of Josh Perez’s rise. Prosecutors allege Josh “involved” Andres by bringing him, his mother, and his sister “either willful or unwitting participants,” including the use of family-owned properties for drug transactions.

Perhaps most damning of all, despite federal authorities labeling Josh Perez the largest fentanyl trafficker in New England, investigators reportedly found no evidence that Providence police ever investigated him. Authorities were unable to locate “a single piece of paper in its investigative files naming Josh Perez as a target or witness or a source.”

Are Rhode Islanders really supposed to believe that Josh Perez was more elusive than the most infamous fictional crime lords—operating in plain sight while law enforcement remained blissfully unaware? Or is it more plausible that Providence’s police force was selectively incompetent at best?

If the latter is even remotely true, Chief Perez’s continued leadership becomes indefensible.

At minimum, after an objectively inadequate response to one of the most serious crimes in the state’s recent history, Chief Perez owes the public a full accounting—of the department’s failures, of his own role, and of how such a massive criminal enterprise went undetected under his watch.

Absent clear answers, Rhode Islanders are more than justified in asking whether institutional protection—not public safety—was the department’s real priority.