Judge jails rafter found at Jones Beach

A judge Wednesday jailed a man wandering Jones Beach in a garbage bag with tales of being adrift at sea for days, authorities said.

The man, Pablo Perez, 47, of Jackson Heights, was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail after a hospital bedside arraignment at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, said Det. Sgt. Thomas Duignan of the State Park Police, which is investigating.

Authorities had found Perez in the bag and wet suit Tuesday.

Perez is charged with criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the .25-caliber Raven-brand gun found in a plastic sandwich bag sealed with duct tape in the suit.

Police believe Perez had taken a cab out to the beach Monday night and inflated a raft there, Duignan said.

Perez told a man he'd met on the beach Tuesday that his raft had been tied to the back of a sailboat in a marina somewhere in the waters off New York City, but the raft had become detached and drifted out to sea.