Malden-based Brazilian National Covered Up Criminal History

MALDEN, MA — A Brazilian national has been sentenced in federal court for lying on his asylum application for an immigration hearing, covering up a variety of crimes committed in his native country.

Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho, 31, was residing in Malden before his conviction. According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, De Abreu participated in the murder of 11 people as a member of the Ceara State Military Police in 2015. He along with 44 other people were charged in what has become known as “The Curió Massacre.”

De Abreu applied for a U.S. nonimmigrant B2 visitor visa in 2017. He lied about whether he had ever been charged or convicted of a crime. He came to the United States for the first time in 2020.
A Brazilian court found him guilty for his involvement in the 2015 shooting, and De Abreu was sentenced to 275 and 11 months in prison. At an immigration hearing eight months later, De Abreu once again lied to the U.S. government saying he never previously mentioned his past transgression because he had never been arrested, which he had.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper has sentenced De Abreu to 16 months in prison. He is subject to deportation after completing his domestic sentence.