Michael Peri

Michael A. Peri (born March 21, 1967) was a Military Intelligence Electronic Warfare Signals Analyst for the United States Army during the Cold War, who was convicted of espionage in 1989 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Biography Peri was born in California, the son of Fred R. Peri (1937–2015) and Winnie Lee Peri (1938–2020). He grew up in La Habra, California. He lived in an expatriate colony in South Africa for three years as a teenager, and he also attended a year of school in Salzburg, Austria. He graduated from La Quinta High School in Westminster, California, in 1983 and then joined the Army Reserves. Peri was not found, although it was suspected that he had defected to East Germany when a Humvee that he had stolen was located near the East German border.

Eleven days later, for reasons that have never been fully explained, Peri turned himself in at the front gate of the 11th ACR. He was greeted at HQ by Col Abrams and arrested by Military Police SPC Shull. He was court-martialed for espionage, where he was convicted on June 25, 1989, and sentenced to 30 years. Even after the conclusion of the court-martial, investigators were perplexed at what had caused this strange turn of events. Peri had twice been nominated for a "Soldier of the Month" award in his unit. During interrogation, Peri admitted he felt overworked and taken for granted by his superior officers. Other soldiers who were interrogated said Peri was often seen with an attractive woman whom they believed to be an East German agent. The woman whom he had been fraternizing with likely exploited his dissatisfaction with the Army to entice him to defecting to East Germany. Peri's voluntary return to West Germany and his surrender to the U.S. Military Police was most likely due to him being overcome by a guilty conscience for a rash decision.