Wilmington Police Corporal Thomas Oliver Jr. Was Convicted of Official Misconduct After an On-Duty Sexual Encounter.

 

Wilmington Police Corporal Thomas Oliver Jr. Was Convicted of Official Misconduct After a Sexual Encounter With a Woman in His Patrol Car

Thomas R. Oliver Jr. was an 11-year veteran of the Wilmington Police Department in Delaware.

In October 2018, he was on duty, in uniform, and driving a marked police cruiser when he stopped an intoxicated woman who was wanted for a misdemeanor probation violation.

The woman later alleged that Oliver forced her into his patrol vehicle and coerced her into performing a sex act to avoid being taken to jail.

Oliver maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual.

After a four-month investigation, he was arrested and charged with second-degree rape, sexual extortion, and official misconduct. He resigned from the department in August 2019.

At trial, a jury acquitted Oliver of the most serious charges, including rape and sexual extortion.

But jurors convicted him of misdemeanor official misconduct, finding that he had abused his position as a police officer.

In October 2020, Oliver was sentenced to one year of probation. Prosecutors had asked for at least six months in prison, and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings characterized his conduct as an egregious abuse of authority.

The woman later filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Oliver and Wilmington officials.

The acquittals matter. So does the conviction.

He was on duty. She was intoxicated, wanted on a warrant, and sitting in the patrol car of the officer who had the power to take her to jail. A jury found that he abused that fucking power.