The United States has arrested in the state of Massachusetts a fugitive from Brazilian justice sentenced to 14 years in prison for the rape of children.
Vagner Brito Paixão, 31, was arrested in the city of Somerville on May 25, according to an ICE (US Department of Immigration and Customs Control) bulletin released on Tuesday (31).
According to the text, Paixão would have entered the US in March 2018, via New York, with a tourist visa and authorization to stay in the country for six months. In February 2019, after the deadline had passed, the US authorities extended the stay permit until March 14 of that year, but he remained in the country after that. The State Department finally revoked his visa in June 2021.
According to information from a February 2014 court case in the district of São João do Paraíso (MG), the Brazilian was sentenced to 14 years and 10 months in prison for practicing, 13 times, “carnal intercourse or other lewd acts with under 14 years of age”. The US claims that there was a warrant for his arrest, and that he has been at large since then.
THE Sheet was unable to locate Vagner Brito Paixão or his lawyers.
The ICE statement does not explain how Paixão was able to legally enter the US in 2018, even though he was sentenced four years earlier.
“Convicted child predators like Brito Paixão cannot use the United States to hide and avoid serving a prison sentence,” declared LaDeon Francis, acting director of the agency responsible for deportations in the city of Boston, adding that the Brazilian would still pose a threat to the community had he not been arrested.
The US government says he will be detained until he is deported to Brazil, where he will be handed over to the authorities. No time frame has been set for this process to take place.
