Simi Valley : Man Sentenced in Child-Stealing Case
A Brazilian man who admitted stealing a 3-year-old daughter from the girl’s mother in Simi Valley and taking her to Brazil was sentenced Monday to five years’ probation and 120 days in County Jail.
But Antonio Belchior, 33, will spend no more time in custody. Under a plea bargain struck last month, Belchior agreed to return the girl to her mother in exchange for time already served.
He was released from custody Wednesday, after spending more than two months in Ventura County Jail.
Belchior, who is now living in Alhambra, was accused of taking the girl from former Simi Valley resident Inacia Godinho in June, 1992, and fleeing to Brazil, Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Hendrickson said.
Belchior and Godinho, who now lives in Los Angeles, were never married.
The probation order issued Monday includes provisions that Belchior have no contact with Godinho or the girl.
He also must repay Ventura County $655 and Godinho $870 for the cost of plane fare from Brazil to California, Hendrickson said. The district attorney’s office paid the cost of the girl’s flight back to Ventura County.
Defense attorney Robert I. Schwartz said his client acted out of concern for his daughter after Godinho, without explanation, took the girl and moved out of the home the couple shared.
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