I think clueless newbie isn't as clueless s/he contends. Let's see if there is something enabled by default. Let's compare the two $conn data structures. Try something like this (untested):

#!/shebang_goes_here
use warnings;
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
use DBI;
my $user = 'charrison';
my $pass = '********';
my $conn = 'DBI:mysql:database=dwcontact;host=192.168.200.39;port=3402
+;mysql_ssl=1';
print Dumper ($conn);
my $dbh  = DBI->connect($conn, $user, $pass);
[download]

Perhaps mysql_ssl_ca_file or mysql_ssl_ca_path are getting defined in a way we don't understand.

Cheers,

Brent