Fall River Man Indicted for Escape

BOSTON – A federal inmate was charged today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with escaping from Coolidge House, a federal halfway house in Boston.

Jason Barreto, 30, was indicted today on one count of escape from federal custody.  In May 2016, Barreto was charged in a criminal complaint.

According to a previously filed complaint, in September 2011, Barreto was convicted in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island of one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and was sentenced to 70 months in prison.  On May 21, 2015, Barreto was transferred from the U.S. Penitentiary Big Sandy in Kentucky, to Coolidge House Residential Reentry Center in Boston to serve the remainder of his sentence.  Barreto was scheduled to be released on Nov. 1, 2015.

On Sept. 17, 2015, following an incident at Coolidge House, it is alleged that Barreto walked out of the facility without authorization and did not return.  On April 8, 2016, after receiving information regarding Barreto’s location, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Barreto at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.   

The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and U.S. Marshal John Gibbons of the District of Massachusetts made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Soivilien of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.