Authorities on Wednesday announced the arrest of a Brazilian man living in Worcester as part of what they said was an operation targeting an organization that helped smuggle hundreds of people illegally from Brazil to the United States.
Flavio Alexandra Alves, 41, faces charges of conspiracy to bring aliens to and transport aliens within the United States in violation of law, according to a news release from the Office of U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley of Massachusetts.
Alves made an initial appearance in federal court in Worcester on Wednesday, and was detained pending a hearing scheduled for Friday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Alves had previously been convicted of human smuggling offenses in California in 2004 and was subsequently deported to Brazil. He allegedly reentered the United States and has been living in the country without immigration status, according to the release.
Foley's office said Alves was identified in an investigation that began in 2022 as a person who had coordinated with others in Brazil and Mexico to transport Brazilian nationals across the U.S.-Mexico border for financial gain, laundering the proceeds. He allegedly purchased more than 100 airline tickets to Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for Brazilians who had encountered U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel near the border; and also allegedly sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help people illegally enter the United States.
The office said he collected payments from people whom he had helped enter the country, taking a percentage for himself and transferring the rest to others in Mexico.
The office said four others had been arrested in Pennsylvania in relation to the case. Their names were redacted from court documents.
The arrest is part of a larger effort the Department of Justice calls Operation Take Back America. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the initiative aims "to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime."
Affidavit details local transactions
A 62-page affidavit filed in federal court by federal authorities details the investigation into Alves.
The document, which contains many redactions, shows photographs authorities allege to be Alves sending out money transfers at local stores, including Walmarts in Worcester and Leominster in 2022.
The time period authorities list for the charges is between May 2021 and August 2022. The affidavit does not state why it is limited to that period, and at one point alleges the offenses "extended over a period of years, into 2025."
Alves' Worcester address is redacted from the document, as are references to numerous other people allegedly involved in the ring, including his alleged partner.
Redactions of names from the public in affidavits is not uncommon, including in situations where others have yet to be charged or are still being investigated.
While Alves' address is redacted throughout the document, authorities at one point note he listed an address at 65 East Mountain St. on documents he filed incorporating a business, BR Partners Investments, with the state.
Records on file with the Worcester Registry of Deeds show that Alves bought the property in 2018 before selling it to a person who was living at 65 East Mountain St. in 2019.
The federal affidavit, written by an agent with the Department of Homeland Security, alleges Alves was "acting as the domestic based smuggler for a larger transnational criminal human smuggling organization," taking a cut of fees and then transferring the rest to Mexican-based smugglers.
Alves, the agent wrote, tried to conceal the nature and frequency of the transfers by "utilizing various stores located throughout Massachusetts along with providing differing variations of his name, home address, and having other close associates conduct the transactions on his behalf."
The agent alleged that Alves conspired with a man, Leno Rawlinsson Silva Oliveira, who they suspect to be the "leader of a Brazilian human smuggling organization."
The document details alleged communications between Alves, Oliveira and others, including messages that include photographs of people being smuggled over the Mexico-U.S. border.
Among the exchanges are voice messages in which alleged conspirators complain about not being paid; at one point, authorities wrote, Alves transferred more than $20,000 to someone who said he hadn't been paid.
"He is crazy! He is like a (unintelligible). He wants to become rich at the cost of the people," one of the people allegedly said to Alves in a voice message regarding Oliveira.
Authorities did not mention Oliveira in their news release. The affidavit shows that authorities in Brazil found text messages between Oliveira and Alves upon searching Oliveira's home in 2022.
According to the affidavit, Alves has lived in Worcester since at least 2021 and holds active driver's licenses from Massachusetts and Maryland.
He was formerly deported in 2005, the agent wrote, after he pleaded guilty to "transportation of undocumented aliens" in a California federal court.
The agent said Alves was caught in July 2004 transporting people in the country illegally to Los Angeles Airport. He told agents at the time he was paid $50 for each person he transported, the agent wrote.
The agent said authorities believe Alves may have reentered the United States as soon as a month after being deported based on a flight he took from Brazil to Mexico City. He had an "encounter" with police in Nahant in 2009, the agent wrote.