BOSTON - A former Massasoit Community College patrol officer, who was also a Somerset Police Department reserve officer, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with attempting to send sexually explicit images and videos of himself to an underage girl.
Cliff Oliveira, 28, of Somerset, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in November 2016 to one count of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.
In November 2015, law enforcement officers discovered that an unknown adult male (later identified as Oliveira) was using the screen name “samuricop" on Kik Messenger to engage in sexually explicit chats and send sexually explicit images to a 13-year-old girl in South Carolina. Undercover officers subsequently engaged samuricop on Kik Messenger using the persona of an underage girl named “Gabbi."
For approximately six weeks, undercover officers communicated with samuricop - informing him that Gabbi was a 14-year-old, middle school classmate of the 13-year-old minor victim. Samuricop asked Gabbi to call him “daddy" and went on to engage in sexually explicit conversations with her. On Jan. 13, 2016, samuricop used Kik Messenger to send several images and a video of himself masturbating to “Gabbi."
During the course of the communications with the 13-year-old victim and with the undercover officers, samuricop informed them that he worked as a police officer. He also repeatedly sent images of a police cruiser and a firearm. Investigators subsequently used those images as well as IP login information provided by Kik to identify Oliveira as the user of the samuricop account. At the time, Oliveira was working as a patrol officer for the Massasoit Community College Police Department and reserve officer for the Somerset Police Department.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Greenville County (South Carolina) Sheriff Steve Loftis made the announcement today. Assistance with the investigation was also provided by the Somerset, Brockton, and Massasoit Community College Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordi de Llano of Weinreb’s Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
