February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
On Monday, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown issued a public appeal for help in the search for the Elmhurst man who was arrested and charged following an investigation into a series of livery-cab sexual assaults on young women.
Brown said an arrest warrant had been issued for Jaime Oliveira, 22, of 40-19 99th St., who did not appear for his Nov. 5 trial at the court in Kew Gardens.
Oliveira, who was free on $150,000 bail, is described as an Hispanic man of Bolivian heritage, 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, with black wavy hair and brown eyes. He is charged with rape, sodomy, attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment, sexual abuse and kidnapping and he faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
A driver for the Santo Domingo car service in Corona and a deliveryman for Domino Pizza in Jackson Heights, Oliveira was accused of attacking two female passengers he had picked up on separate occasions in Woodside.
In the first incident, Oliveira allegedly attacked a 31-year-old Irish woman who had hailed his cab in Woodside on July 9, 2000, after locking the doors of his black Lincoln town car as she attempted to get out near her home in Queens.
In the second, on Aug. 6, 2000, a 25-year-old Irish passenger fell asleep in the cab and awoke in a deserted area of Fresh Meadows to find she was being raped. In both cases, the women eventually fought off her attacker and jumped out of the car before he sped off.
Oliveira was arrested on Aug. 22, 2000, during a stakeout by detectives of the Queens Special Victims Squad.
“The defendant is an alleged sexual predator who, according to the charges, preyed upon helpless women, overpowered them and sexually attacked them inside a livery cab while he was supposed to be taking them to their homes,” Brown said. “His employment as a livery cab driver gave him the opportunity and the means to come in contact with young female victims. I would ask anybody who may have seen him or may know his whereabouts to contact my Special Victims Bureau at (718) 286-6505.”
The missing man is not a suspect in the most recent spate of livery-cab sexual attacks in Woodside.