Brazil murder suspect living on Martha’s Vineyard arrested in Edgartown

Oak Bluffs Police assisted Immigration officials in taking Reinaldo Braga Barbosa into custody last week.

0
Reinaldo Braga Barbosa — courtesy Dukes County Sheriff

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with assistance from Oak Bluffs Police tracked down and arrested a Brazilian national with an outstanding criminal record living in Edgartown, who police said is wanted for murder in Brazil.

Reinaldo Braga Barbosa, 35, of Edgartown was taken into custody at 10:10 am, Monday, Nov. 16, on Main Street in front of the Edgartown courthouse without incident by ICE officers assisted by Oak Bluffs and State Police, according to a press release the Oak Bluffs Police Department issued Thursday, Nov. 19.

ICE officers returned to the mainland with Mr. Barbosa aboard the Oak Bluffs police/fire patrol boat the same day.

“With a prior felony assault conviction, Braga Barbosa is an enforcement priority and will remain in custody pending the outcome of removal proceedings,” an ICE spokesman said in a statement issued Thursday.

According to law enforcement sources, Mr. Barbosa is in this country illegally and will be deported pending the legal process.

The investigation and arrest began on Nov. 9 when an Oak Bluffs Police detective received information “from multiple sources that Martha’s Vineyard resident Reinaldo Braga Barbosa, 35, of Edgartown, may be wanted for murder in Brazil,” Detective Jeffrey LaBell said in a press release to The Times.

On Nov. 10, Oak Bluffs Police contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Providence, R.I., to relay the information they had gathered on Mr. Barbosa.

On Nov. 13, ICE advised Oak Bluffs Police that the information on Mr. Barbosa was submitted to the Brazilian consulate and would be forwarded to the Brazilian Federal Police to confirm whether or not Mr. Barbosa was wanted in Brazil.

On Thursday, Nov. 19, the Providence ICE office contacted the Oak Bluffs Police Department “and advised they had received confirmation from the Brazilian Federal Police that Barbosa is wanted for murder in Brazil,” police said.

Oak Bluffs Police said they were familiar with Mr. Barbosa, a painter, from past criminal investigations. He is currently on probation for an assault and battery conviction in Edgartown District Court.

In August 2014, Oak Bluffs Police arrested Mr. Barbosa after he attacked his ex-girlfriend in her home on Pennsylvania Avenue after she arrived there with a friend who had escorted her home because she feared Mr. Barbosa, police said at the time of the arrest, according to a published report in The Times.

Mr. Barbosa confronted the woman and her friend in her driveway when she arrived home from a party. At the time, there was an active abuse-prevention order in place that prohibited Mr. Barbosa from having contact with the victim and ordered him to stay away from her residence.

“The female victim asked her male friend to stay with her until she got into her house safely,” according to the police report.

After the woman entered the residence, Mr. Barbosa forced his way inside and began choking her. The male party who drove the female victim home then ran over to help his friend, police said. Mr. Barbosa allegedly then went into the kitchen area of the residence and armed himself with a kitchen knife, at which point he went toward the male with the knife, police said. Oak Bluffs and Edgartown Police arrived, and Mr. Barbosa fled. He was later arrested at his residence on 12th Street South in Edgartown.

At the time, he was on probation on a previous assault and battery case in which he pled guilty and received a six-month suspended sentence.

On August 18, 2014, Mr. Barbosa was arraigned on a charge of armed burglary and violating an abuse-prevention order.

On April 2, 2015, he was found guilty of assault and battery on a family/household member. He received one year in the house of correction, which was suspended, and two years probation, and was ordered to pay $115 in fines and enter a batterers’ program.

On a related threat to commit a crime, he received six months probation concurrent with the previous charge, and was ordered to pay $50 to the victim/witness fund. A charge of armed burglary was dismissed at the request of the commonwealth. He was found guilty of violating an abuse-prevention order and sentenced to 230 days in the house of correction, deemed served.

According to information gleaned from the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais and a public judicial clearing house website (jusbrasil.com.br), two criminal indictments were issued for Reinaldo Braga Barbosa in 2003 and 2004 in the state court of Minas Gerais.

In an email to The Times, a spokesman for the Federal Police of Brazil in the State of Minas Gerais said that because Mr. Barbosa has not been officially charged they could not provide any details about the crime which he is accused of committing.

A public notice published in the Minas Gerais official judicial circular on Sept. 17, 2015 announced Mr. Barbosa was sought by the court and had 15 days from the date of publication to appear.