Fugitive Operations Team officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested Lenaria Aparecida Pereira Sandoval, 29, a Brazilian national convicted of first-degree murder and related offenses by a Brazilian criminal court, in Quincy on Feb. 27.

Sandoval is the subject a criminal warrant issued by Brazilian authorities after she was convicted of murder, desecration of a corpse, and vehicle theft and sentenced to 17 years in prison by a criminal court in Brazil in September 2021.

“Criminal fugitives convicted of heinous crimes in their home country cannot evade justice by hiding out in our communities,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons. “Sandoval mistakenly believed she could avoid accountability for the serious crimes she has been convicted and sentenced for in Brazil. It’s due to the unrelenting work of the dedicated men and women of ERO Boston and our strong relationship with our international law enforcement partners that this dangerous criminal will now be brought to justice in her home country. I am very proud of our team for their continuing great work.”

Although Sandoval sought and obtained a change in her immigration status from U.S. immigration authorities in April 2021, U.S. immigration authorities discovered that she failed to disclose her criminal charges when she applied for that change. By fraudulently failing to disclose those charges, she violated the terms of the change to her immigration status.

In September 2021 Sandoval was convicted in absentia of the charges against her and sentenced to serve 17 years in prison in Brazil by a criminal court in the city of Campos Altos, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A criminal warrant for her arrest was subsequently issued by Brazilian law enforcement authorities.

When Brazilian law enforcement authorities issued the international criminal warrant for her arrest, ERO Boston immigration enforcement officials began an investigation to find her and confirmed her presence in ERO Boston’s jurisdiction. Officials took Sandoval into custody without incident. She will remain in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody pending the outcome of an immigration court hearing. Based on that outcome, ERO will seek removal.

In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories. This group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions, including 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.

ERO, a directorate of ICE, upholds U.S. immigration law at, within, and beyond our borders. ERO operations target public safety threats, such as convicted criminal noncitizens and gang members, who have violated our nation's immigration laws, including those who illegally re-enter the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges. ERO deportation officers assigned to Interpol also assist in targeting foreign fugitives for crimes committed abroad at-large in the U.S. ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including identification and arrest, detention, bond management, supervised release, transportation, and removal. Additionally, ERO repatriates noncitizens ordered removed from the U.S. to more than 150 countries worldwide.

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