Samuel Calvario. Photo: LAPD
A man who was arrested in Connecticut was ordered Wednesday to remain jailed in lieu of $2 million bail in connection with the November 2000 killing of a good Samaritan — a crime for which a San Fernando man spent more than two weeks in custody last year before being cleared of any involvement.
Samuel Calvario, 47, was taken into custody in Bridgeport, Conn., in connection with the Nov. 9, 2000, killing of Daniel Felix, according to Deputy District Attorney Lance Hansen.
“Fingerprint comparisons led us to him,” Hansen said, noting that other evidence found at the time of Calvario’s arrest “strengthened our belief that it is the true Samuel Calvario.”
Calvario was taken into custody three weeks after Los Angeles County prosecutors announced that Guillermo Torres — who had been arrested last July 25 by Los Angeles police — was not the man being sought in Felix’s killing.
Authorities determined that Calvario had been living in a rooming house in Connecticut under an alias and arrested him after he filed a police report with the Bridgeport Police Department about a stolen vehicle, according to media reports from Connecticut about Calvario’s arrest last Sept. 29.
Authorities executed a search warrant for the residence and DNA samples, and found documentation detailing Calvario’s true identity, Fox 61 reported.
Calvario is charged with one count each of murder, assault with a firearm, kidnapping and transportation of marijuana, according to the prosecutor. He is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom March 29, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial for Felix’s killing.
Authorities said Felix was shot to death while intervening in a dispute between Calvario and Calvario’s then-girlfriend.
Torres had spent more than two weeks in custody before being released on electronic monitoring and then being cleared last Sept. 8. He had been arrested following a tip to police about a photo someone spotted in the “Most Wanted” section of the Los Angeles Police Department’s website seeking the public’s assistance in finding Calvario.
Authorities ended up comparing Torres’ DNA to DNA collected from Calvario’s child and determining that Torres was not Calvario, attorneys said shortly after the 45-year-old man was cleared of being involved in the crime.
“For an innocent man, it was really a nightmare,” Torres’ attorney, Leonard Levine, said then. “It was clearly established that he was not the person sought.”
Levine said claims have subsequently been filed against the city and the county of Los Angeles in connection with “what we thought was the unlawful arrest of Mr. Torres.” The city has not yet made a decision, while the county has denied the claim, he said, noting that no civil lawsuit has been filed yet.
Less than a week after Torres was cleared, Los Angeles Police Commission President Matt Johnson announced that the Los Angeles Police Department had launched an internal investigation into Torres’ arrest. LAPD officials did not immediately respond to questions about the status of the investigation.
–City News Service
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