Deerfield Beach man deported to Brazil to face charge in officer's murder

Juan Ortega, Sun Sentinel

5:27 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2011
FORT LAUDERDALE—
A man arrested in Deerfield Beach nearly two years ago has been deported to Brazil to face charges in a police officer's murder, federal authorities said Wednesday.

Joao Maximiano De Oliveira, 51, a Brazilian national, was turned over by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to authorities in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, officials said. Pending extradition, he was being held at Krome Detention Center near Miami.

De Oliveira is accused of killing a police officer in Sao Paolo in 1991. An altercation outside a bar in Brazil prompted him to shoot Absolon Ferreira de Souza multiple times with a .22-caliber firearm, officials said.


The FBI's fugitive task force began looking for De Oliveira in 2008 when Brazilian national police alerted the bureau that he could be living in Broward County, officials said.

On the night of April 2, 2009, police swooped down on De Oliveira's home in the 500 block of Southeast Eighth Avenue in Deerfield Beach and arrested him. He had been working in South Florida as a handyman and rented out rooms to fellow Brazilians.

Fort Lauderdale Police Fugitive Detective Chuck Morrow, who helped make the arrest, said he was glad the suspect was "off the street." The day after the arrest, Morrow said, "Maybe it will bring some closure to the victim's family in Brazil."

De Oliveira told investigators he illegally entered the United States from Mexico after the officer's slaying and spent the past 15 years in South Florida, the FBI said. He had two children with a girlfriend in the United States.

De Oliveira's deportation exemplifies how "ICE works closely" with authorities overseas, returning suspects to their home countries for prosecution, said Marc Moore, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations field office director.

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