Federal police officer Ricardo Matias Rodriguez, 53, accused of killing one man and shooting another during a boat party in 2016, received more than R$22,000 in bonuses and daily travel allowances for work, carried out between November 2020 and February 2025. The agent will be tried again by a jury court after the first conviction, with a 24-year prison sentence, was overturned due to an error in the process.
The special agent, who has been with the Federal Police since 2006, is still assigned to the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (DECOR) of the Federal Police (PF) nine years later. Ricardo earned the above amounts when teaching the Crisis and Security Management course in Brasilia (DF), Goiânia (GO), Paracatu (MG), and Yonapolis (BA), in addition to traveling to participate in other courses in the national territory.
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Federal District
Federal police officer who killed man during boat party goes to jury
The trips and courses lasted an average of five days, and the amounts paid by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security amounted, on average, to R$2,000.
A course teaching bonus is provided in the course or fee competitive bonus (GECC), which is paid to federal public service employees for the final performance of specified activities.
Server salary cannot be viewed on the Transparency Portal. According to the federal government website, the Federal Police does not disclose some data to protect the ability to investigate and avoid putting operations and servers at risk.
According to the PF salary scale, the salary of a special agent in 2025 is R$21,987.38 and with the amendment approved this year, the pay should rise to R$25,250. Since he has been an agent for 19 years, it is estimated that his salary may still contain an additional amount due to length of service.
Holding a degree in Economics, the agent has experience in the field of information science, with a focus on public security, and mainly works on the following topics: City Control, Defense Plan, Articulated Crime, and New Kangasso. The police officer specializes in competitive intelligence and corporate counterintelligence, and has an executive MBA in crisis management.
Following the crime known to the public, the federal police officer was also honored with the highest honors by military police officers in six different states: Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco.
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Claudio Muller was the fatal victim of the crime
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Pictures of the fire department on the day of the crime
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The DF Fire Department responded to the incident
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Boat photos taken by PCDF expertise
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Blood stains were found
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Blood stains were found
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Honors given by military police from other states to federal police officers
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Resources received by Ricardo Matias
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Crime
- The Federal Police officer will be tried again for double murder, for futile reasons and using a resource that made it impossible to defend Banco do Brasil employee Claudio Mueller, 47 years old.
- In addition to the murder, Matias will be tried for the shooting death of Fabio Cunha, who was 37 years old at the time and managed to survive being shot in the chest, where the bullet became lodged. The agent used a 9mm Glock pistol to shoot, but was never arrested because no police officer took action.
- Witness accounts differ in some aspects, but there is one common factor in the testimonies, which is that a dispute between the women present at the celebration was the cause of the dispute that ended in the tragedy.
- Claudio’s wife claims she was attacked by the federal police officer’s partner, whereupon her husband and his friend Fabio went to ask questions.
- According to Agent Rodriguez, during the birthday celebration of three women on board the Lake Palace ship, there was confusion, and Claudio and Fabio allegedly attacked PF’s wife. Rodriguez then pulled out his gun and ordered the alleged attackers to move away.
- When the police officer realized that the matter had not been answered, he shot each person in the stomach and then asked one of them to call for help.
At the time of the crime, Rodriguez surrendered to the 5th Police Station (Asa Norte) and admitted that he had already been aware and had acted in self-defense. He handed the weapon over to the police station, then released him after signing a statement pledging to attend court proceedings.
However, this account was disputed by witnesses who claimed they did not see Rodriguez identify himself as a police officer. The shooter himself admitted to drinking alcohol on the night of the party. However, according to Rodriguez’s defense, the client only consumed “two or three glasses of wine.”
Claudio Mueller, the victim of the fatal shooting, was a business IT consultant at Banco do Brasil, who was born in Rio de Janeiro and moved to Brasilia in 1998. The man left behind a 22-year-old daughter, from his first marriage, and another 9-year-old daughter, as well as his wife and stepson.
Claudio’s friend, Fabio Cunha, even asked for compensation of R$800,000 for the damages caused, but the court reduced the amount to R$50,000 and ordered Ricardo Matias to compensate the man who was also shot.
The conviction was overturned
Matías was sentenced by a jury court in Brasilia to 24 years, nine months and 15 days in prison in 2018, but the trial was annulled by the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) in 2019 after a procedural failure in the process.
The plenary session’s condemnation for “offending the principles of connection, completeness of defense and contradiction” was invalidated. A house arrest order was issued for Mathias, but it was canceled after the decision was overturned. The TJDFT rejected further requests for the MP’s pretrial detention.
Syrians for Truth and Justice ordered the criminal case files to be returned to the Deir ez-Zor City Court of Justice to evaluate other defense arguments raised in the appeal.
The Federal Police even opened an administrative process to investigate the behavior of the client, who was sent to the administrative department of the Decor company, lost his right to use a weapon and was prohibited from leaving the Federal District without prior permission from the court.
After the trial resumes, Ricardo Matias will be tried again before a jury in Brasilia on December 16, at 9 a.m., despite defense attempts to cancel a new trial.
If he is convicted again and the case becomes final, the client runs the risk of dismissal from the Federal Police, as stipulated in Article 92 of the Penal Code.
Federal police were contacted and did not respond to the report’s questions about the Decor special agent case. The location of the federal police officer’s defense during the demonstration was also not determined. The field remains open for possible demonstrations.