A bank treasurer and his wife were planning to flee to Uruguay after stealing almost $259,000 from his job, authorities in the state of Espirito Santo, in southeastern Brazil, revealed.
Eduardo Oliveira, 43, was accompanied by his wife, Paloma Tolentino, 29, and was seen carrying a box containing the money after finishing his shift on November 14 at a Banco do Brasil branch in the municipality of Vitoria, surveillance video showed.
Oliveira, who had worked at the bank for 12 years, could be seen approaching a security guard in the lobby and greeting him before he headed for the exit.
Investigators discovered that Oliveira and Tolentino planned the heist beforehand and were able to change the password to the bank’s safe.
The couple loaded up all their belongings and moved into a new house in Vitória on Saturday, using some of the cash to pay off some of their personal debts.
On Monday, Tolentino visited a car dealership and attempted to purchase a Jeep Renegade with $12,700 in cash, but a salesperson told him they couldn’t process the cash-only transaction.
He told the worker that he had money in a bank branch and visited the financial institution, where Oliveira was already waiting for them.
As part of the plot, Tolentino and Oliveira pretended that they did not know each other in order to process the purchase of the car.
Brazilian bank worker Eduardo Oliveira and his wife, Paloma Tolentino, were arrested on Monday, just four days after robbing the Banco do Brasil branch where he worked. The couple was 250 kilometers from the border with Uruguay when they were captured.
Eduardo Oliveira carries a box loaded with cash he stole from a Banco do Brasil branch where he worked in Vitória, Brazil, as he followed his wife out the door on November 14.
The bank became suspicious when Oliveira did not show up for work on Monday and did not answer any of their phone calls.
Another branch manager reported the theft to police after noticing money missing from the safe deposit box.
Authorities took a break in the investigation when they discovered Tolentino had deposited $12,700 into an account that was used for the purchase of a new Jeep Renegade on Monday afternoon.
Investigators visited the car dealership and were able to obtain the vehicle’s license plates.
Oliveira and his wife loaded their dog and cat into the van and drove approximately 1,367 miles to Santa Cruz, a city in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
They were only 250 kilometers from the border with Uruguay when they were intercepted by the Federal Highway Police.
Footage filmed by the police showed a police officer searching the trunk of the vehicle and removing a suitcase loaded with 70,700 euros, $41,490 and $131,596 in Brazilian currency.
“The discovery and experience of the police in identifying that this money was used to purchase a car and quickly realizing that this car was transferred to Eduardo’s name, helped a lot in arresting them and recovering the money,” said the police officer. police officer Gabriel Monteiro. who is in charge of the Specialized Criminal Investigations Department and the Specialized Bank Robbery Unit.
Paloma Tolentino (left) and her husband and bank director, Eduardo Oliveira (right), face three charges: receiving stolen goods, continued theft and attempted foreign currency evasion.
The authorities recovered 70,700 euros, 41,490 dollars and 131,596 dollars in Brazilian currency
The authorities were able to return all the money to the bank and the vehicle to the dealer.
They also recovered about $3,400 from Oliveira’s ex-wife, who said the money was part of a divorce settlement.
“The police station reserved the right to remain silent, but with all this evidence there is no doubt that he wanted to flee with the money,” Monteiro said.
“This caused some surprise, since he was a person who held a high position in the bank, with a good salary.”