SIMI VALLEY : Proceedings Delayed in Child-Stealing Case
A 33-year-old man accused of stealing his 3-year-old daughter from the girl’s mother in Simi Valley last year and fleeing to Brazil had his Ventura County Superior Court arraignment continued while he arranges for the child’s return.
Antonio Belchior, who was arrested June 3 in Miami after Ventura County authorities were tipped that he would be in the United States, remains in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail on a charge of felony child stealing, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Hendrickson.
“We received information that he would be in Miami, Florida, for the day, and we had him arrested,” Hendrickson said.
Belchior is accused of taking the girl from Inacia Godinho, a former Simi Valley resident who now lives in the Los Angeles area, in June, 1992, and fleeing to Brazil, Hendrickson said. The couple were never married, Hendrickson said.
The child, now 4 and living in Brazil, could be returned to her mother as soon as two weeks, defense attorney Robert I. Schwartz said in arguing for the delay Wednesday.
Belchior, who could receive up to three years in state prison if convicted, also faces a civil contempt order for failing to comply with a judge’s order to return the child, Hendrickson said.
The Superior Court arraignment and the contempt proceeding were continued to July 20.
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