SHREWSBURY — On Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, at approximately 5:27 p.m., Officer Timothy Charland of the Shrewsbury Police Department was on patrol, stationed at the intersection of Boston Turnpike and Svenson Avenue when he spotted a white Chevrolet Express Van with an advertisement for plumbing printed on the sides and rear of the vehicle.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Statement of Facts of Officer Timothy Charland and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“I noted that the vehicle plate affixed to the rear was a passenger plate and not a commercial plate,” Officer Charland said. “I activated my emergency lights and pulled out approximately four cars behind the van.”
Officer Charland said the driver — later identified as Lucio F. Borges Da Costa, 44, of Worcester — tried to evade him by exiting the highway onto a private resident’s driveway at 250 Boston Turnpike, then cutting over to a closed church and parking behind the church with his lights off.
“Mr. Costa did so due to his license being suspended and attaching wrong plates to his unregistered, uninsured van,” Officer Charland said.
Officer Charland then placed Costa under arrest, handcuffed him, and placed him in the rear of a cruiser. Costa was then transported to the Shrewsbury Police Department for booking.
“A RMV query showed that he was currently suspended for various motor vehicle infractions and had four open cases for operating on a suspended license and attaching motor vehicle plates,” Officer Charland said. “A query of the license plate attached to the van came back revoked to a BMW sedan. The VIN of the Chevy van was then run and showed that the most recent registration was cancelled.”
Lucio F. Borges Da Costa was issued a criminal citation for the following charges:
- Operate Motor Vehicle with License Suspended
- Uninsured Motor Vehicle
- Unregistered Motor Vehicle
- Number Plate Violation to Conceal ID
- Trespass with Motor Vehicle
Costa failed to appear for his arraignment scheduled for Dec. 1, 2025. A default warrant issued for his arrest was recalled on Dec. 2, 2025, when he appeared in court for his arraignment, and his warrant was recalled.
During his arraignment on Dec. 2, 2025, Judge Jennifer Stark dismissed the charges of uninsured motor vehicle and operating motor vehicle with license suspended. Judge Stark also found Costa not responsible for the number plate violation to conceal ID charge, the unregistered motor vehicle, and the trespass with motor vehicle charge.
Following his arraignment, Costa was released on $500 cash bail and the case was filed.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the arrest in this story took place in November, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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Why was everything DROPPED??? Lots of drivers end up in jail for the same charges!
I believe the chief of police would be within his bounds to place a simple phone call to the judge, and ask for an explanation.
Now this intellectually vacant felon gets away with this what next kills someone when he shouldnt be on the road all. Judge Stark should be removed from the bench and have her license to practice law revoked for lack of commonsense and violating our right to travel on safe roads