Mistaken Identity Lands Coconut Creek Man In Jail For Five Days

CBS Miami

January 28, 2022

A Coconut Creek man says he lived a nightmare recently when law enforcement mistook him for a fugitive with the same name, similar looks, and almost the same birthday.

Leonardo Silva Oliveira, 26, was wanted for probation violation on charges out of Boca Raton. But on Jan. 20, authorities arrested another man named Leonardo Silva Oliveira, 26, outside the Broward County restaurant where he is a cook, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

Oliveria, the cook, spent five days in the Broward County Jail. He says authorities should have known he was not the fugitive because he was 10 days younger and does not have tattoos. The police report said Oliveria, the fugitive, sports a building tattoo on the left arm and a clock on the right.

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