Dennis Ricardo Peña must stay at least 500 feet away from his ex-partner for the next two years. And who’s his ex-partner? Oh just a certain fired Miami news anchor named Charles Perez.
The ex-newscaster, who’s embroiled in legal action against WPLG-ABC 10, won a restraining order against Peña (pictured, below), who Perez claims verbally and sexually assaulted him. Oh, and not to mention he thinks it’s Peña who leaked an email to his therapist (about his “gender identity”) to colleagues and everyone else in his contacts list.
But it looks like Perez’s woes aren’t over. Out of a job, he’s also about to lose the South Beach condo he bought with Peña. Or maybe he wants to hand it back to the banks because, well, who does like living in the same place they shared with their violent ex?
The two men began an on-again, off-again relationship in February 2006 in New York, while Perez was a TV anchor at WABC. Peña moved to South Florida when Perez accepted a reporting-anchor job at Channel 10. They broke up in August 2008, a few months after Perez succeeded Dwight Lauderdale as weeknight news anchor with Laurie Jennings.
Perez and Peña co-own a South Beach condo. Perez bought it for $435,000 in October 2006 and later added Peña to the title with “joint rights of survivorship.”
Perez told Figarola that he still owes about $435,000 on the Sunset Harbor condo in Miami Beach and that it is now assessed for tax purposes at under $294,000. Figarola awarded possession of the unit to Perez, who said he plans to give it “back to the bank.”
Since their final breakup a year ago, Perez and Peña have fought over ownership. Perez told Figarola that Peña threatened him physically and said he would ruin him professionally.
Done. And done.
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traffick
Didn’t this guy have a really bad talk show in the 80’s or 90’s. And didn’t he date the gay guy (I don’t know what his name is) from the first season of the real world.
Charles Merrill
This story is very sad. Perez really loved Pena, to give him half of the property and probably Pena loved Perez. Then their lives fell apart, losing a job, unemployment.
I suspect alcohol or meth brought on the outbursts of anger from Pena. In tough financial times and insecurity, the only relief to be had for many is through substance abuse. It just makes things worse and spins relationships out of control. Perez was lucky to escape. Some stick around and get hurt or murdered.
edgyguy1426
That’s a pretty brave leap of assumption on your part, I think. Whatever the circumstances for the breakup were, speculation is futile and is even sometimes the beginning of many false rumors. That’s Perez Hilton’s dept.
Slider
Traffick (post#1) yes, that is the same Charles Perez that was Norm’s bf on the first Real World and the first same sex kiss/same sex couple on the Real World and yes the same Charles Perez that had a really bad talk show in the 1990s….
Chuck
I never knew, when I fell in love with Perez after seeing his talk show in high school, that he had such bad skin. Must have worn a ton of foundation.
mb00
@Slider: I thought that was him. Remember what a big that whole “same sex kiss” was back then?