VIERA, Fla. – A 58-year-old Brevard County inmate is on the run Wednesday after fleeing from a work assignment in a Sheriff's Office car, officials said.
Brevard County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tod Goodyear said deputies are searching for Daniel Amoroso, who stole an unmarked Chevrolet Impala on Tuesday evening. Goodyear said Amoroso stole the car from a sheriff's maintenance building, where he was assigned to work as a supervised working inmate, or "trustee."
“(The maintenance building) is a big facility," Goodyear said. "For someone to get out of sight for a few minutes is not unheard of because of the size of that facility.”
The stolen car was found Wednesday morning in Orlando, but Amoroso is still at large. Goodyear said the suspect may have a connection to the area, as he was arrested there in July and the transferred to Brevard County.
“Obviously he has some kind of ties to that area and that’s what investigators are checking now,” Goodyear said.
Amoroso had been at the Brevard County Jail since July on a charge of failure to appear in connection with grand theft, Goodyear said. He also had a hold out of Broward County on a similar charge. Goodyear said the inmate began working as a trustee on Aug. 2.
According to Goodyear, Amoroso does not have a history of violence, but citizens have been asked not to approach him. The suspect's charges related to the escape and car theft are significantly more severe than those he was arrested on.
Goodyear is not sure exactly how Amoroso was able to gain access to and drive away in the car.
"That's something we have to look at," Goodyear said. "Is it something that we're doing as far as policy-wise or a procedure that needs to change, or is something where the circumstances just happened to hit at the right time."
Amoroso is described as white, about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 200 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a Sheriff’s Office striped uniform.
Anyone with information about Amoroso's whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office at 321-633-7162.