'Despicable': Former Massachusetts media personality guilty of indecent assault on child

FALL RIVER — Former local talk show host and journalist Richard "Ric" Oliveira was found guilty this week of felony indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and a misdemeanor count of assault and battery, then sentenced to two years in prison with one year to serve.

Oliveira, 53, showed no emotion when Fall River District Court Judge Cynthia Brackett ruled on his sentencing and when court officers took him into custody. The former Swansea resident was equally stoic when the female accuser, who was a child at the time of the indecent assault, gave a victim impact statement to the court.

The Herald News does not identify child or adult sexual assault victims.

The victim, who is an adult now, testified against Oliveira during the one-day trial on Monday, with the jury convicting Oliveira on Tuesday afternoon.

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Oliveira had been released after Tuesday's verdict and ordered to appear for sentencing on Wednesday.

He had also been free on personal recognizance since he was arraigned on the charges on Dec. 11, 2019, after an investigation into allegations by Swansea police. Authorities claimed that the indecent assault and the assault and battery incidents happened between 2012 and 2014.

Victim makes her impact statement

The female victim told Brackett that the event had affected her “in more ways imaginable,” that she suffers from severe anxiety and depression still, and that the four years it took to go to trial were extremely difficult.

Even though her name was never published in the media, she said the ordeal was very public.

“I was called a liar on social media,” said the woman. “This has been years of my life, and it's hard because when I think about my childhood, it just seems like trauma.”

She asked the judge to sentence Oliveira to jail time, but also that he be ordered to seek psychiatric help.

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Assistant District Attorney Kyle McPherson, during the sentencing phase, laid out what was testified at trial including how and when Oliveira sexually molested her.

Then two years later, Oliveira assaulted her and testimony indicated Oliveira dragged the girl by her hair as a punishment.

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office had requested Brackett give Oliveira the maximum penalty of two and a half years in jail for the indecent assault. McPherson also requested an additional year in jail for the assault and battery, for a total of three and a half years in prison.

Defense attorney Melissa Hendrie asked for Oliveira to receive no jail time, rather order three to five years of probation, noting he has no criminal background and that he has obeyed terms of his release since the case began, including having no contact with the victim.

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“This is a very sad case and, as counsel has said, this has had an impact on everyone, especially the victim,” said Brackett.

The judge continued by saying Oliveira had violated the victim’s trust and that “this is one of the most significant offenses we have here in District Court.”

Ultimately, Brackett ordered Oliviera to serve two years in the Bristol County House of Correction, with one year to serve and the balance suspended for three years. If the defendant violates any terms of his eventual release or commits a new crime, he could be liable to serve the remainder of the suspended jail sentence, according to a release by the Bristol County District Attorney’s office.

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In that same statement, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III expressed his disagreement with the amount of time Oliveira was sentenced.

“The defendant took advantage of his position of trust and engaged in despicable conduct by molesting (a young) girl. In addition, he later violently assaulted the girl. The defendant’s conduct is difficult to comprehend,” according to Quinn. 

“Based on the facts of the case, I feel the defendant should have been sentenced to a longer period of incarceration. I commend the victim for coming forward and for testifying in court under very difficult circumstances,” stated Quinn.

Hendrie and other members of the defense team said they would decline to comment at this time.

Longtime newsman and media personality in the SouthCoast

Oliveira was a staff reporter for The Standard-Times of New Bedford in the 1990s before becoming publisher of O Jornal, a bilingual Portuguese and English newspaper, a role he held through March 2013. The Standard-Times and O Jornal are now owned by Gannett.

He joined WSAR as a part-time talk show host in 2008 and served in various capacities at the station, including general manager, until he was involuntarily separated from the organization in 2017.

One of his radio shows was “Underreported with Ric Oliveira,” where he dubbed himself as "the most dangerous talk host in the SouthCoast.”

Since then, he’s taken to social media often lambasting Quinn on Facebook and other platforms, and has been a longtime critic of Swansea leaders over issues with the Swansea Water District.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Former media personality sentenced to jail for indecent assault