Rawson-Neal patient confesses to 2008 homicide, tells police, ‘Get me out of here and just put me in jail’

A Las Vegas man has confessed to a 2008 drug-related slaying because he allegedly prefers prison to staying in a troubled Las Vegas mental hospital.

Henry Perez, 28, is charged in Las Vegas Township Justice Court on one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon, three counts of discharging a firearm at or into a structure, vehicle, aircraft or watercraft, and one count of possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.

The charges are related to the June 2008 slaying of Alejandro Fuentes.

According to a Metro Police report released today, Perez initially confessed his involvement to police on July 9 after complaining that prison would be preferable to staying at the Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital, where Perez was housed due to alleged schizophrenic tendencies.

In a phone call to a Metro detective, Perez said he had shot Fuentes several times in the back with a .40 caliber Glock, the report said. The shooting, Perez added, took place in an alley off of Calcaterra Circle.

After the detective told Perez he would come to the hospital to see him, Perez told the detective, “I confessed, get me out of here and just put me in jail.”

Earlier this week, an independent commission issued a preliminary denial of accreditation to Rawson-Neal, which has been gripped by accusations it has improperly discharged mentally ill patients onto Greyhound buses to be shipped out of state.

According to the Metro report, Perez subsequently told officers that Fuentes, who sold drugs for a friend of Perez’s, wanted a pair of shoes back that he had gifted to Perez. In making the shoe demand, Fuentes spat on the ground in front of Perez.

Perez, taking insult, fired multiple rounds toward Fuentes. An autopsy found one of the shots hit Fuentes; police found several spent rounds near the shooting scene.

At the end of the interview with police, Perez also claimed to have been beaten by corrections officers and that the DEA had planted a bug in his body.

Despite the claims at the end of the interview, officers found Perez's confession matched details of the crime and issued an arrest warrant on July 18.

He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center without bail. He is scheduled for a court appearance Friday morning.