Written by Patricia Gay
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Bridgeport man was sentenced in Stamford Superior Court on Dec. 22, 2008 for his role in setting a car on fire in Weston in an attempted insurance fraud scheme.

Claudio Rodriguez-Desouza, 31, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree larceny in Stamford Superior Court and received a sentence of five years in prison, suspended after 18 months served, followed by three years’ probation.
Weston police arrested Mr. Rodriguez-Desouza on July 14, 2008 in connection with an incident that happened in May.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on May 26, members of the Weston Volunteer Fire Department and the police department responded to 9-1-1 calls from residents who reported hearing explosions and seeing a fire in the woods in the vicinity of the Freeborn Walking Trail off Old Redding Road.

When authorities arrived, they discovered a 2007 Toyota Camry was on fire and had burned down to its shell. The car had been reported stolen the same day from Fairfield. No one was in the car.

A joint investigation was conducted by Weston Police Detective Carl Filsinger and Detective Jason Takacs of the Fairfield Police Department, which led to the arrests of Mr. Rodriguez-Desouza and his girlfriend Eliana Barbosa of New York.

According to police, Ms. Barbosa owed $27,000 on the vehicle and was making payments of between $500 and $600 per month. At first, Ms. Barbosa reported that the car had been stolen after she abandoned it on the side of the road. She told detectives that Mr. Rodriguez-Desouza had picked her up after she accidentally locked the keys in the car when checking to see if she had a flat tire.

Detectives pressed charges against the couple after cell phone records did not corroborate their timeline of events and Ms. Barbosa was found to have made a prior claim of $17,000 worth of damage from sand in the engine after she said her car was stolen by a valet.

Investigators ultimately decided Ms. Barbosa lacked credibility and charged her with first-degree larceny and false reporting in connection with the incident.

Mr. Rodriguez-Desouza was charged with arson in the first degree, conspiracy to commit arson in the first degree, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree.

At the time of his arrest, Mr. Rodriguez-Desouza, a citizen of Brazil, was being held as an illegal alien by federal immigration authorities.

Ms. Barbosa made application for the accelerated rehabilitation program on Dec. 9 and will appear in Stamford Superior Court again on Dec. 9, 2010. She is facing a charge of attempt to commit larceny in the first degree (motor vehicle) should the program not be granted.


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