WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A former Delaware police officer who was accused of forcing a woman to perform a sex act in his patrol car has been sentenced to a year of probation after being convicted of official misconduct.
Thomas Oliver Jr. was sentenced on the misdemeanor charge Friday after being acquitted by a jury in December on more serious charges of rape, sexual extortion and having sex with someone in police custody.
Although probation is the presumptive sentence for the official misconduct charge, prosecutors asked that the former Wilmington police officer be sentenced to at least six months in prison, given the nature of his conduct.
“His actions were a sickening and egregious abuse of authority, an insult to our community, and an affront to his colleagues and anyone else who works to honor the public’s trust,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a prepared statement.
Authorities say Oliver was on duty and in uniform in October 2018 when he pulled his patrol car alongside a woman and instructed her to get in. The woman reported that Oliver exposed himself and told her she had an active warrant for her arrest but that he would let her go if she performed oral sex on him.
The woman reportedly was wanted at the time for a misdemeanor probation violation.
Oliver and his attorneys claimed that the encounter was consensual and that he thought the woman was a prostitute.
The woman reportedly told police in a recorded interview that she and Oliver had run into each other twice that day and that she commented on his looks and told him where he could find her later. She later testified that she did encounter Oliver twice but did not remember complimenting him on his looks.
Oliver had been a member of the Wilmington Police Department for 11 years.
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