Owner Of Defunct Med School Pleads Guilty To Illegal Campaign Contributions

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The former owner and chairman of a now defunct medical college was led off in handcuffs after a very confusing day in court.

"You know what you did is wrong!" someone yelled as Ernesto Perez was whisked away.

A couple former students from his Dade Medical College and University of Southernmost Florida were on hand to see it.

"I waited for a while to see that, to see him in handcuffs. It's been a long time coming," said former student Mariam Martinez.

"That's why I came here. To see him get handcuffed," added Rosa Somoza, another former student. "And I have video of him walking with his handcuffs and I will see that as many times as I want."

Perez suddenly closed his private schools Friday, leaving students wondering what they'll do next.

But the case he was in court for Tuesday is unrelated to closing the schools.

In the case at hand, Perez entered a guilty plea to illegal campaign contributions and obstructing justice from a 2012 case.  While the Judge said this proceeding was not related to the schools closing, she made it clear she was aware it was going on.

"This does not give any immunity for that case if there are any cases from there," said Judge Stacy Glick.

Perez, however, said he thinks the cases are related in a roundabout way.

In the courtroom he told CBS4's Ted Scouten this current case against him is politically motivated. That "entities" did not like the fact that his schools were successful.

His former students are just satisfied that they're at least seeing him in court and in cuffs

"He's doing something wrong, he needs to be punished and he will go to jail or have some type of punishment of everything he did to us," said Somoza. "We're all going to unite as a class as humans and show him he cannot step on us."

Perez will be back in court in two weeks to tie up loose ends. After that, he is due back in January when he'll begin to serve his sentence, which will be about a day behind bars.