DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The state fired a probation officer and three supervisors Monday for allegedly failing to keep custody of an ex-convict who is the lead figure in the vicious beating and stabbing deaths of six people last week.
Corrections Secretary James Crosby said the employees missed key opportunities to put Troy Victorino in jail, including a visit to his probation office within a day of Thursday's slayings.
Victorino, 27, was arrested July 29 on a battery charge, and the next day police notified probation officers, who were supposed to send a report to a judge requesting an arrest warrant for a probation violation within 48 hours, Crosby said. That paperwork was not sent until Friday, Crosby said.
Crosby had no answer for why Victorino slipped through the cracks.
"There is no excuse for this inaction," Crosby said.
Police said the killings were the brutal culmination of an argument between Victorino and one of the victims, believed to be Erin Belanger, 22. She was singled out for a beating so brutal that even dental records were useless in trying to identify her.
Fckin Jerks
