NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- A Louisiana woman has been charged with hiding her son's cellphone that allegedly had evidence of sex crimes he committed against juvenile girls, police say.
Joy Usey Perez, 51, of Algiers, has been released on $25,000 bond, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Tuesday.
Her son, Dustin Richard Perez, was arrested in July 2012 and charged with aggravated rape. Plaquemines Parish sheriff's deputies accused him of holding a gun to the head of a 16-year-old girl while he sexually molested her in March 2011.
Deputies and New Orleans police searched the Perez home after Dustin's arrest. They recovered clothing and weapons. Joy Perez reportedly told a witness later she hid her son's cellphone before the search.
Joy Perez was arrested last week when she visited her son at the detention center where he was being held. The cellphone was in her purse, deputies said.
Dustin Perez was 15 at the time of the alleged crimes.
