Rams Say Raiders Jumped Gun : Pro football: They have been told tackle Gerald Perry has signed with cross-town rival and accuse the team of tampering.

The Rams say they have lost starting left tackle Gerald Perry to the Raiders, and they suspect foul play.

The Rams said they have been advised by Perry’s wife that he has signed with the Raiders, although they had a “handshake agreement” with him on a three-year contract.

John Shaw, the Rams’ executive vice president, said the team has been advised by various sources, including Perry, that the Raiders began courting him two weeks before the March 1 date for teams to begin talking with free agents.

Shaw said the Rams have asked NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to investigate their suspicions of tampering.

“If there were discussions, and we were told there were, our organization would be plenty upset,” Shaw said. “It violates the league rule. We were told there would be specially serious sanctions imposed if (free agents were) contacted prior to March 1.”

The Raiders told two different stories. Mike Taylor, the club’s publications director, called The Times and announced that Perry had signed with the Raiders.

A short time later, Steve Ortmayer, the Raiders’ director of football operations, said no such deal with Perry had been struck.

“It would be erroneous to say we signed Gerald Perry,” Ortmayer said. “It would be totally false. But we are working on a deal.”

Conya Perry, reached by telephone in Stone Mountain, Ga., said her husband, who acts as his own agent, signed with the Raiders on Monday night.

“We signed a three-year deal with the Raiders,” she said, adding that her husband has gone fishing for the week.

“There was no handshake agreement with the Rams. It was late on Sunday night--after midnight--when the Raiders first called.

“The Rams knew we were not happy with the numbers,” she said. “They were not supporting us as we would have liked. They did not protect us in free agency, did not respond as if Gerald was valuable to them. I told them we wanted to talk with other teams and see what was available.”

As for the Rams’ suggestion that Raiders had jumped the March 1 deadline to talk with Perry, she said: “Get out of here. We were talking to the Rams exclusively.”

When Ortmayer was apprised of the Rams’ request for an investigation of the Raiders, he said: “All I can tell you is that we have been working on this since Monday. That (tampering suggestion) is unfounded. These people need to look in the mirror.”

Tank Younger, the Rams’ director of player relations, said he met with Perry in mid-February and again on Saturday. He said he knew the Raiders were talking with Perry before the March 1 deadline, but he wasn’t concerned.

“We had an agreement on a contract, so it wasn’t a concern,” Younger said. “The kid told me the Raiders were talking with him, and I told him no one was supposed to be talking numbers before the first of March. He kind of laughed it off.”

Younger said the Rams reached an agreement with Perry, an unrestricted free agent, on a three-year contract calling for $1 million in 1993 this past Friday. Perry had a base salary of $420,000 last season.

On Saturday, Younger said, he met with Perry in Atlanta to sign the contract and deliver his signing bonus check. Perry, however, told Younger that he had been advised by Gene Upshaw, the NFL Players Assn. executive director, to wait 24 hours before signing.

“We had a handshake agreement, and he said he would come to Los Angeles Tuesday to sign the deal,” Younger said. “I couldn’t reach him Monday when I called to make travel arrangements, and I still haven’t heard from him.

“I talked to his wife this morning, and she revealed that he had signed with the Raiders. I felt kind of hurt. I’ve been behind him all the time. I thought the kid had more character than that. I know character has been an issue with him, but I thought he had a little left.”

Perry had a long list of legal problems in Denver while playing for the Broncos, which prompted his trade to the Rams in 1991. The Rams had to contend with yet another incident this past August when he was charged with sexually assaulting a baby-sitter in his employ.

Perry will appear in Orange County Superior Court on March 23 to answer a civil suit filed on Irma Gamez’s behalf on Aug. 11, 1992, for assault, battery and false imprisonment.

Still, the team considered him one of its most valuable players but chose not to protect him as a “transition” player because they believed they could re-sign him.

“We were led to believe by Gerald that he was happy to sign with us,” Shaw said. “It’s safe to say it’s disappointing when an athlete lies to you. It’s not only lying, but not talking to us, not contacting us, not giving us a chance to make a higher bid or different offer.

“We still haven’t heard from him, which makes no sense to me.”

Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this story.