Remember L-1011s...?? Some of my earlier flying memories (excluding puddle-jumpers & PSA flights up & down CA...).

But on the current subject:
I wonder how much of the issue is due to "lost in translation"...?
If AA blocks someone how do we/OP know that they are REALLY correctly interpretting the rules in Brazil? (Granted they should, but that doesn't mean they do.) Even in the UK I get oddly different answers on AA or AAdvantage rules etc on occasion.

Plus, I hesitate to read to much into the OP's exact wording, espec "felony", because it seems to me English isn't his first language (no offense, sir, just imperfect grammar etc)... so he may be using words that aren't exactly what a native English-speaker would use.

In sum, I think the foreign nature of this whole thing has a lot to do with what happened on both sides. I suspect AA made a mistake, but I suspect a number of FTers would also have explained it all just slightly differently than the OP.

I sure hope he gets decent compensation though, agreeing with others that even if AAdvantage rules were violated (not saying they were!), the disallowed boarding on 2nd half of rtn paid ticket is, well, pretty horrendous.