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WILKES-BARRE — A West Hazleton man who police say killed another man and set the victim’s car ablaze had his charges bound to county court Friday.
Jancarlos Perez, 22, was charged Jan. 20 with criminal homicide and related charges in the death of Jose Alberto Concepcion, an alleged Hazleton-area drug dealer whose body was found in a remote area of the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Township with a gunshot wound to the head.
Perez allegedly admitted to being at the scene and burning the vehicle, but claimed another man pulled the trigger.
At the time of his death, Concepcion, 23, was facing felony drug charges stemming from an incident last summer in which state troopers allegedly caught him in possession of two bricks of heroin. Perez, who was with Concepcion at the time, denied knowledge of the heroin, according to police.
At a preliminary hearing Friday at the Luzerne County Courthouse, District Judge James Dixon forwarded to county court charges of criminal homicide and reckless burning, as well as related counts of theft, criminal mischief and tampering with evidence.
Security was heightened for the nearly two-hour hearing, which was moved late this week from Dixon’s West Hazleton offices to the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre. Sheriff deputies searched entrants to the third-floor courtroom, scanning them with metal detectors and inspecting their belongings.
The proceeding got off to a late start after Perez’s defense attorney reported ill, delaying the hearing almost two hours. When attorney Emily Cherniack stepped in to act as defense counsel, Perez protested.
“This is bulls___,” he told Dixon. “This lady knows nothing about my case and this is the first time I am meeting her.”
Cherniack motioned for Dixon to continue the hearing, saying she needed “more time to get familiar with the case.” Dixon denied her request, saying the hearing was already overdue, having been originally scheduled for Feb. 3.
The hearing resumed just before 11 a.m. with testimony from state police Cpl. Shawn Hilbert about his investigation into the cause of the blaze. Hilbert, who the court recognized as an expert in arson investigation, said he discovered traces of ignitable fluid in and around the vehicle, and concluded the fire had been intentionally set.
Kevin DeJesus, a mutual friend of both Concepcion and Perez, testified he went with Perez to a Hazleton area AutoZone where Perez told him he needed to get a container and fill it up with gas. DeJesus said he asked Perez what the gas was for and Perez responded, “Don’t worry about it.” The two then drove in a separate car to the industrial park, where he witnessed Perez set the car on fire. He then drove Perez to his mother’s house.
Asked by Cherniack why he didn’t contact the police or fire department, DeJesus said he was “still nervous and scared.”
“Once he lit the car on fire, he told me he killed Luigi (Concepcion) and told me not to say anything to police,” he said. “I was frozen and didn’t know what to do.”
Perez, during a Jan. 20 interview with investigators, claimed he was given the gun used to kill Concepcion by the shooter, a Spanish-speaking man named “Jay,” whom Perez described as having dreadlocks with blonde tips, according to the affidavit.
Perez, the affidavit says, previously told police he contacted DeJesus to purchase the container and gas, and then allegedly admitted to burning the vehicle, a 2002 Ford Explorer.
The affidavit says Perez also admitted to sending himself a threatening text message from a different cell phone, a measure police believe “was an attempt to insulate Perez from having to admit knowledge of the homicide.”
Assistant District Attorney Mamie Phillips said she believed the testimony was enough to support forwarding the charges the county court.
“I think it’s very fair that the Commonwealth had met its burden with regard to the homicide,” Phillips said in her closing remarks.
Perez remains jailed without bail at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.