Woodbury Man Sent Harassing Emails To Elected Official, Cops Say

NEW LONDON, CT — A 58-year-old Woodbury man was arrested on a warrant Thursday charging him with four counts of second-degree harassment after police said he sent "vulgar, degrading [and] racial" emails to an elected New London official.

John "Jack" Perun, of Washington Road, became a suspect in the case following an investigation, and police said he admitted to detectives that he sent the four emails, two in November and two in December of last year.

The identity of the elected official who received the emails was not disclosed, but it appears that Perun was angry over the city's decision to remove its Christopher Columbus statue.

"Perun reported he saw a news article about the New London Columbus statue, saw the victim’s name in the article, found the victim’s email address online at the City of New London website and sent the emails to the victim," New London police wrote in a statement.

In the summer of 2020, the New London City Council voted to remove the statue, as many other communities have done over the year, after a petition to remove it garnered more than 6,000 signatures.

Perun is scheduled to appear in New London Superior Court at a later date.