Cape Cod home daycare shut down after child rapist from Brazil found living there

A home daycare service on Massachusetts' Cape Cod has been shut down after it was discovered that a convicted child rapist from Brazil was living on the premises. The licensed home daycare was harboring Andre Tiago Lucas, who is the father of operator Franciele Nunes' two children.

Tiago Lucas fled Brazil rather than face a 9-year prison term in Brazil after being convicted in the rape of a 13-year-old girl. Nunes' license for operating the Hyannis daycare lapsed in March after being licensed for three years, per Boston 25 News.

The description of the business reads: "Franciele Nunes is a licensed child care home offering daycare programs located in Hyannis in Barnstable, MA."

ICE had taken Lucas into custody in October 2024. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) had visited the facility five times, but each time, they did not find Lucas living there. The agency said that they didn't know about Tiago Lucas' relationship to the home until four months after he was arrested by ICE.

Tiago Lucas was "was convicted by the Sole Court of the District of Serro, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Dec. 6, 2016, of rape of a vulnerable person and sentenced to serve nine years and four months incarceration. He then fled Brazil, eventually settling in Massachusetts before serving his criminal sentence," per ICE. He has remained in custody pending immigration proceedings. 

Mandatory background checks conducted by the EEC do not include criminal history from outside the US, and immigration status is not a factor that's considered.

"The idea that someone has been documented, that a Brazilian national fled the country because they were convicted for rape of a 13-year-old and could come to Massachusetts and not only disappear into the fabric of Massachusetts, but actually be living in a home that was a daycare center for young people. That’s terrifying," said Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis.