Man in Copter Case Was Free on Jail Program

Vincent William Acosta, accused of murder in the midair collision of two police helicopters Tuesday, was on the streets that night despite being sentenced to serve 90 days in Orange County Jail only five weeks earlier.

Acosta was sentenced Feb. 2 to serve 90 days for selling cocaine, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Olson said.

On Feb. 3, Acosta was transferred to Theo Lacy branch jail where he was accepted into the community work program on Feb. 12, Olson said. The program permits minimum-security prisoners to perform public-works jobs for the county’s Environmental Management Agency during the day, then return home at night.

About 260 people are in the program, compared to a jail in-custody population of 3,199, Olson said. One benefit of the program, which was established in 1982, is that it frees beds in the county’s overcrowded jail system, Olson said.

But on Feb. 23, EMA officials notified the Sheriff’s Department that Acosta had not shown up for work since Feb. 18. On March 4, the Sheriff’s Department attempted to locate Acosta and left word with one of his relatives that he should contact EMA.

Had Acosta turned himself in or been arrested, he would have been brought before a judge, Olson said.

“Generally in these cases, the court listens to what the individual has to say; generally it results in their sentence being prolonged,” Olson said.

Had Acosta not been accepted into the work program and had he stayed out of trouble while in jail, he probably would have been released by March 8 because he had been given credit at his sentencing for time already served while awaiting trial, Olson said.