Weapons Arrest Made at Jones Beach of Man Adrift at Sea

A Queens man who told a jogger on the boardwalk this morning that he had been adrift at sea for days, was arrested by police and charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

State Park police said Pablo Perez, 47, of Flushing, Queens, approached a jogger walking on the Jones Beach boardwalk in Wantagh around the central mall at 6:15 a.m. Police said Perez was wearing a wet suit under his street clothes and told the jogger he had been separated from a fishing boat three days prior and had been drifting at sea in a raft. 

The jogger called 911 and when police responded Perez told them he had washed up on the beach and had a gun beneath is clothes. Perez was transported to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow where he is currently being evaluated.

The weapon Perez had possession of, which detectives said was a 25-caliber semi-automatic loaded pistol, was seized by State Park police.

A nine-foot raft was located along the shoreline and taken to the State Park Police station at Jones Beach.

Police contacted the U.S Coast Guard command in Connecticut who indicated that there were no ongoing searches or bulletins for missing vessels.