A prisoner who escaped the custody of sheriff's deputies while being transported in a van along Interstate 95 in Waltham, Massachusetts, last month appeared in court Monday.
Victor De Moura-Pereira, 20, was arraigned on a misdemeanor charge of escaping from federal custody. He is currently in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and will remain there, authorities said.
If he is found guilty, he faces a year in prison a $100,000 fine and a year of probation. His next scheduled court appearance is on April 3, at 10 a.m. in Worcester District Court.
Pereira escaped custody in February while being transported in a Plymouth County Sheriff's Department van. He was recaptured 45 minutes later at the MSPCA in Waltham following a manhunt. He had been arrested a day earlier in Framingham on an outstanding warrant.
When he escaped, the van Pereira was in was traveling south on I-95 when it became stuck in traffic as a result of emergency road repairs necessitated by a large pothole that had opened up on a bridge. The sheriff's department said he found a flaw in the design of the vehicle which allowed him to squeeze through the plexiglass and gain access to the emergency exit.
