Shooting victim had long criminal past dating back to 1999
Posted: Nov 19, 2011 7:42 PM EDT | Updated: Nov 6, 2014 1:32 PM EDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- An ABC 57 News investigation into Dietrich Perkins' past, the man killed in last night's shooting off of Johnson and Lathrop Streets, uncovered quite the troubled past.
Perkins had two warrants out for his arrest the night he shot and killed. One of the warrants was for violating his parole for being caught in possession of marijuana.
That only scratches the surface of years of criminal activity that has had the man in and out of jail for over a decade.
Dietrich Perkins has a laundry list of offenses that date way back to 1999 when Perkins was just 19-years-old.
Perkins arrest as a teen tells a story of a boy with a troubled adolescence. As a teen he was arrested for drug possession, running from cops, possession of a weapon, driving without a license and violating parole.
Only eight months would go by before he found himself on the wrong side of the law once again.
At age 20, Perkins was arrested on several more charges, including battery and leaving the scene of a serious accident resulting in injury or death.
At age 27, he was arrested again, but this time for assaulting a cop. He was also booked on the similar drug charges, including possession of cocaine.
Perkins most recent arrest came back in March of this year, in Goshen, after he resisted officers.
Up until last night's deadly shooting, Perkins had a warrant out for his arrest in Hammond. The warrant was issued after he skipping a court date where he had been caught with marijuana again, a drug charge that violated his parole, which is a felony all on its own. That is why the Indiana Department of Corrections issued a second warrant for his arrest.
In the past 12 years Perkins has been arrested 12 times. In just the past three years, he has been charged with at seven misdemeanors and nine felonies.
The worst of his felony charges came in September of last year when he was charged with dealing drugs, which is a Class B felony.