A Vincentian man, described as a violent felon who has served more than half his life in prison, is said to be awaiting deportation, probably to his homeland.{{more}}

Edward Veira, of western New York, was supposed to have been freed from prison in 2009, when prosecutors dropped a charge that he had refused to register as a sex offender.

His next step was slated to be deportation from the United States because of his criminal past, but that information was apparently never communicated to the jail, the Buffalo News reported on Saturday, August 13, 2011.

He therefore spent an extra 28 months behind bars due to an oversight by authorities — and his own failure to alert anyone about his status, it has been reported.

The Buffalo News said that for more than two years, federal immigration officials, who called the holding centre monthly asking about Veira, were told incorrectly that his case was still pending.

Veira, 41, never spoke up about his status or contacted his lawyer, authorities said.

The jail finally realized its mistake in July.

Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III told the Buffalo News that the reason for the mistake was “some kind of mix-up in paperwork.”

In 1987, when Veira was 18 years old, he was involved in a series of a armed robberies at Burger Kings in Manhattan. The heists were savage. During one robbery, the masked robbers raped and sodomized a teenage store clerk and tried to force one of her co-workers to join in. The girl became pregnant and ultimately had an abortion, the newspaper reported.

Veira served all 21 years of his sentence. He was released in 2009, but was jailed again the same day, when he allegedly refused to complete forms registering him as a sex offender.

Sedita said prosecutors quickly dropped the case to speed Veira’s deportation proceeding.

“That was the principal reason we dismissed the charge, so the feds could take him the hell out of here, out of Erie County and out of the United States,” Sedita told The Buffalo News. “Good riddance. Apparently, that didn’t happen for whatever reason. I cannot explain it. I hate to sound like I’m passing the buck. But that’s not my job.”

Veira, who did not respond to a letter from The Buffalo News, is now in federal detention, awaiting deportation – probably to St. Vincent, where the Buffalo News said he was born.