The fugitive Leonardo Silva Oliveira, 26, of Coconut Creek, who was charged with burglary and grand theft in 2017, is wanted for a probation violation out of Palm Beach County, according to the Coconut Creek Police Department.
Instead of their fugitive, Coconut Creek police arrested a different 26-year-old Leonardo Silva Oliveira, a cook with a spotless criminal record, outside the restaurant where he worked.
Scotty Leamon, a representative for the Coconut Creek PD, told PEOPLE that Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office contacted Coconut Creek authorities on Jan. 19, explaining they had a warrant for a Leonardo Silva Oliveira, who listed an address in Coconut Creek.
“Officers confirmed that address and found the individual they arrested at his place of employment the following day, January 20,” Leamon said in an email. “His name, driver’s license, and Social Security number matched everything PBSO sent to us.”
“One of our officers took a picture of him and sent it to a PBSO deputy, who verified that that was the man they were looking for,” Leamon added.
But Oliveira, the one who was mistaken for a fugitive,told theSouth Florida Sun-Sentinelthat authorities should have known that they had the wrong individual. The fugitive Oliveira is 10 days older and also has tattoos, which the man who was mistakenly arrested does not.
“They checked my arms,” Oliveira told theSun-Sentinel. “They didn’t see any. But they still took me in.”
A lawyer for Oliveira, the cook, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. His client was released Tuesday after officials discovered his fingerprints did not match their records.
The whereabouts of the fugitive Oliveira are still unknown.
source: people.com
