David Britto fired from Boynton Beach Police Department - Sun-Sentinel
Fugitive police officer David Britto has been fired from the Boynton Beach Police Department.
Britto, 28 — who was awaiting trial on drug-trafficking charges and living in his mother's Coral Springs home — was fired Thursday for cutting off his electronic monitoring bracelet and fleeing to his native Brazil, authorities said.
Britto joined the Police Department in 2006 and was its 2010 Officer of the Year.
Authorities say his mother, Janiber Andrade Vieira, bought him the one-way ticket, lied to federal agents about his whereabouts and planned to join him in South America.
She was arrested Sept. 2 at JFK International Airport in New York as she was about to board a flight to Sao Paulo, authorities said.
Now she's in federal custody while her son remains in Brazil.
A federal grand jury in Miami on Thursday indicted Britto and his mother each on three additional counts related to his escape.
Britto is charged with conspiracy for devising the getaway plan with his mother, failure to appear in court, and contempt of court for violating conditions of his bail.
Vieira, 51, also is charged with conspiracy, contempt of court, and lying to federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents about her son's whereabouts.
The contempt charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Britto was arrested July 1 on charges of conspiring to possess and traffic 500 grams of methamphetamines. He has pleaded not guilty.
It remains to be seen whether the arrest of his mother will put pressure on Britto to return.
"I have not heard anything else at this point," Britto's attorney, Michael Salnick, said Monday. "I'm up in the air like everybody else is."
Boynton Beach police declined to comment.
Vieira has been in federal custody in New York and is being transferred to Miami, where she is expected to be arraigned later this week.
According to court records, Vieira bought Britto's airline ticket from Miami to Brasilia on Aug. 23. The next day he cut off his ankle bracelet and fled.
Vieira suffers from high blood pressure and depression, according to a New York jail warden's memo to the court.
Her husband, Mariorlando Vieira, last week said that his wife had been headed for Brazil for regular, less-costly medical treatment for depression. He said he did not know where Britto, his stepson, was and was shocked that authorities had arrested his wife.
Mariorlando Vieira said he did not know if or how his wife aided Britto, but the drug case against him devastated his wife.
"What mother wouldn't try to help a son?" he asked.
jjburdi@tribune.com or 561-243-6531
20 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNE1_rPeCx1exAF1ZqT1y06dJqU8jw&url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/boynton-beach/fl-britto-fired-boynton-20110919,0,5456690.story
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
