Mother Sentenced To Jailtime For Abuse, Endangerment Of Her Children

WORCESTER, MA—A mother of three children pleaded guilty to charges that she harmed two of those children, and will face more than seven years in prison.

Elsa Oliver pleaded guilty on Tuesday to assault and battery and two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr.

Worcester Superior Court Judge Richard Tucker sentenced Oliver to a total of 7-and-a-half years of incarceration, 2-and-a-half years each for the three charges, which involved incidents with two of her three children.

The District Attorney also filed a nolle prosequi on other counts Oliver had been facing regarding her third child, Jeremiah Oliver, including kidnapping of a child, assault and battery, permitting bodily injury to a child, and reckless endangerment of a child. A nolle prosequi was also filed on two counts of assault and battery involving her other children for which her boyfriend, Alberto Sierra, entered a plea and was sentencedto prison last week.

Jeremiah, a 5-year-old Fitchburg boy, was found one month after the defendant had been indicted for the offenses in this case. Jeremiah Oliver was discovered missing in late 2013. His remains were found on April 18, 2014, in a suitcase off I-190 in Sterling.

Jeremiah’s death was ruled a homicide by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. That investigation remains active and ongoing, and is currently being investigated by the State Police Detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office and Fitchburg Police.

The current charges involving the defendant and Jeremiah Oliver were ended at this time to allow the death investigation to continue and to eliminate any possible double jeopardy claim in connection with his death.

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