Internal Documents Show Multiple Mistakes by Law Enforcement in Wrong Arrest - NBC 6 South Florida
Newly released internal documents from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office show the department started its own investigation that revealed multiple layers of mistakes by different law enforcement agencies in the wrong arrest of a Coconut Creek man who spent almost six days behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
The documents provided by the PBSO lay out how the wrong Leonardo Silva Oliveira was arrested from the sheriff’s departments’ point of view.
An unidentified sergeant had been assigned to the case on January 18th and began attempting to locate and apprehend a Leonardo Silva Oliveira the next day by retrieving documents through the Softcode Program, which contained the warrant and other documents compiled by PBSO warrant specialists.
In the document, the sergeant said they followed an “investigative checklist” which included reviewing the “David System” which had a driver’s license number, address, date of birth and social security number among other things.
The sergeant stated that the information in the David System matched info in the Softcode and Palms System, databases of information used by law enforcement across Florida.
The sergeant wrote that when the most up-to-date address for Oliveria came up in Coconut Creek, he contacted the Coconut Creek Police Department to pick up Oliveria on January 20th. The PBSO Sergeant wrote that a sergeant from Coconut Creek said that he located Olivera but that the date of birth did not match the info provided and the picture on the warrant didn’t match the guy they had in custody.
The report said that's when the PBSO sergeant suggested using the Rapid ID fingerprint scanner, but the Coconut Creek sergeant declined, saying it was unreliable.
And The Tattoos
In the report the PBSO sergeant said the Coconut Creek sergeant said the guy they had detained did not have tattoos, but also mentioned that they could have been removed.
The report said at that point the PBSO sergeant said it was up to the Coconut Creek sergeant to determine if it was the right guy and that Coconut Creek sergeant said he "felt comfortable" moving forward with the arrest since everything else matched and that it would get "sorted out at the jail," which we now know didn’t happen until almost six days later.
The PBSO report pointed the finger at Coconut Creek Police, saying it’s their department’s responsibility to determine if it's the right person and if the arrest warrant should be executed.
The report went on to state that the same day that the wrong Oliveria’s lawyer got him released, PBSO was contacted by Coconut Creek. The PBSO sergeant wrote in the report that they received a phone call from the arresting sergeant from Coconut Creek and that a captain and legal advisor for the police department were also on the call to inform PBSO that they arrested the wrong guy and he was let go.
The document said Coconut Creek Police agreed that it was their responsibility to correctly ID and arrest the suspect.
A spokesperson for Coconut Creek Police Department said it stands by its previous statement.
“The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) contacted us on January 19th, explaining that they had a warrant (probation violation) for Leonardo Silva Oliveira and that he had an address in Coconut Creek. Officers confirmed that address and found the individual they arrested at his place of employment the following day, January 20th," the statement read.
"His name, driver’s license, and social security number, matched everything PBSO sent to us," said a spokesperson for the Coconut Creek Police Department. "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. We learned on January 25th that his fingerprints didn’t match, and that he was released from jail."
Then according to the documents, PBSO was asked to check the documents it provided to ID the guy and determine where and if a mistake was made. Originally Boca Raton’s case, PBSO said it asked for the arrest sheets from Boca and quickly determined that none of the arrest sheets had the same Florida driver license as the warrant.
In the documents, some of the info matched the wrong Oliveria, including a handwritten rough arrest from Boca Raton that had the same birthdate, social security number and address as the wrongly arrested Oliveria.
The report said PBSO then reached out to the Florida Department of Corrections to speak to the probation officer who wrote the violation. According to the PBSO sergeant, the officer was unavailable, but a supervisor looked into it and learned that the previous probation officer made a notation on a copy of the “David cover sheet” stating “NOT HIM.”
The Department of Corrections supervisor wrote that they could not determine why the wrong warrant was submitted into the system and said that it will be removed immediately from the system and submit the corrected warrant.
PBSO wrote that in order to safeguard the alleged innocent subject his social security, driver’s license number and his address have been removed from law enforcement database. But that Boca Raton PD is "responsible to submit an amended rough arrest to Palm Beach County corrections to remove the alleged innocent's person's social security number” from a 2018 arrest report.
NBC 6 reached out to Boca Raton Police for comment. A spokesperson replied saying, “Due to an Internal Affairs investigation into this matter, the Boca Raton Police Department cannot comment until the investigation is complete."
source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/internal-documents-show-multiple-mistakes-by-law-enforcement-in-wrong-arrest/2680364/
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