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The Rio Court ordered this Wednesday (7) the preventive detention of João Ricardo Rangel Mendes, former CEO of the Hurb travel agency, formerly Hotel Urbano.
In the decision, judge André Felipe Veras de Oliveira, from the 32nd Criminal Court, ordered the arrest due to “an obvious risk to public order and the application of criminal law”.
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João Ricardo Rangel was arrested on Monday (5), at Jericoacoara Regional Airport, in Ceará, carrying a false document and with his electronic ankle bracelet unloaded.
The request for preventive detention of João Ricardo Rangel was made this Tuesday (6) by the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro for non-compliance with the precautionary measures imposed by the Court.
The precautionary measures were imposed due to Rangel’s arrest for stealing works of art and other objects from a hotel and an architecture office. The businessman was denounced by the MPRJ in May 2025 for the crimes of qualified theft and tampering with vehicle identification.
Defense
The defense of the former CEO of Hurb, represented by lawyer Vicente Donnici, claimed that the defendant did not breach precautionary measures, as he did not stay away from Rio for more than 30 days without warning, as determined by the Court.
According to the defense, Mendes traveled to Ceará on December 29th. He also claimed that there is no proof that the electronic ankle monitor was actually turned off and that, if that were the case, it would not have been intentional.
Judge André Felipe Veras said that regarding the ankle bracelet, “the monitoring report brought by SEAP [Secretaria de Administração Penitenciária ]is assertive regarding the defendant’s repeated monitoring violations.”
When issuing the arrest warrant, the magistrate ordered Rangel to be sent to Rio de Janeiro.
