Brandin M. Deoliveira, the 30-year-old former manager at Captain’s BBQ arrested two years ago on five counts of unlawful sex with a minor–an employee at the restaurant–was sentenced today to six months at the local jail followed by eight years of sex-offender probation and a lifetime designation as a sex offender.
The sentence, pronounced by Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, was a significant reduction from the lowest-permissible sentence Deoliveira was facing, and the sort of sentence typically pronounced in such cases locally: at least five and a half years in prison, according to his punishment scoresheet, and a maximum of 15 years.
“This one obviously is a good bit lower than that but is followed by a significant and longer period of time on sex-offender probation,” Perkins said.
When Perkins asked the victim’s mother if there was anything she wanted to add during today’s brief sentencing hearing, after she had addressed Deoliveira somewhat directly (Deoliveira was in the courtroom with his attorney and Perkins, she and the victim were on Zoom), she said: “Other than I wish he could go away forever, but that’s not the case.”
The sentence was nevertheless the result of a plea deal and close consultation between Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark and the victim and her family.
“Obviously we’ve had a lot of conversations about this case over the last several years, in addition to conversations about how the case was going to resolve,” Clark said, addressing the mother. “You knew what the sentence is going to be, and you’re in agreement with the sentence after everything we’ve discussed, is that right?”
“Yes, I am,” the mother said.
“I just really hope you know what you’ve done, Brandin,” she told him, “I really hope you do. There’s really nothing else to say.”
The case was moving slowly through discovery, pre-trials, the taking of deposition and even docket sounding at the end of November, when a trial was to be scheduled, before the two sides agreed to a plea. Along the way, Deoliveira’s private attorney withdrew, citing non-payment of fees, and was replaced by Assistant Public Defender Bill Bookhammer.
The mother’s indicting words to Deoliveira bore a severity that was not reflected in the sentence.
“Brandin,” she told him, “I can remember one of our first conversations. It was at a Crossfit competition, and you had just won a beginner’s class. I went up to congratulate you, and your response to me was, I don’t do anything that I don’t know for sure I’m going to win. I thought at that point in time it was a rather pompous and arrogant response. But I can tell you, it’s something I have not forgotten. You became a friend of our family. We invited you into our home. We invited you into our lives. We trusted you….”
Her voice broke, as if would again. There was a pause before she resumed, “… to take care of our daughter, when you gave her a job at the restaurant you worked in. But you pretended all along. You gained our trust. You gained our daughter’s trust. And you fooled us. You took advantage of a young girl that looked up to you, a girl that believed she could trust you, because her parents trusted you. I failed my daughter, because I didn’t think something like this would happen. I wasn’t able to protect her, because I never imagined a person that we called a friend, a man that we did so much with, could be raping our daughter when we weren’t around. I want to go back to our first conversation and your statement of ‘I don’t do anything that I don’t know for sure I’m going to win.’ Well, you didn’t win this, Brandin, you are a despicable human being, and I am ashamed to have known you.”
Deoliveira stood at the podium masked, in a white shirt, looking to his right at one of the courtroom’s large screens. He had come to court on pre-trial release (his bond, which he posted within days, had initially been set at $100,000). He did not address the court, was taken into custody to serve his six-month stint, minus three days’ credit for time served.
After the victim’s mother’s statement, Perkins adjudicated Deoliveira guilty on a single second-degree felony count of unlawful sex with a minor, the other four counts having been dropped as part of the deal. On paper, the conditions of sex-offender probation are severe: mandatory curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., prohibition from living within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, park, church or other places where children gather, prohibition on contact with the victim or with any child under 18, his own excluded, restrictions on where he may work (no schools, day care centers, theme parks, playgrounds, pet stores, libraries, malls), and no internet except for work.
He may not drive alone without his probation officer’s approval, and must maintain a driving log. While on probation he’ll also be required to submit to random, warrantless searches, polygraph tests and electronic monitoring whenever his probation officer decides. He’ll also join the sheriff’s list of residents prohibited from distributing candy on Halloween.
[2019CF5]
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Peter J DiGiulio says
It looks like he got off to Easy for his CRIME.That poor girl& parents have to live with this FOREVER.WHERE WAS JUSTICE IN THIS CASE!!!!
Concerned Citizen says
Another farcial travisty of justice in Flagler County.
And why am I not surprised that it was handed down by Judge Perkins. Sex offenders get a major pass when they committ crimes in Flagler County.
This person took advantage of a minor and used violence to coerce. And all he gets is 6 months? I guess at this point we can only hope jail house justice prevails. And the fact that he has to be released back into the community after. I hope folks will remember and make life hell for him.
Yes I’m being judgemental. And no I have no forgivness for sex offenders. As a former Law Enforcement Officer it’s the most heinous of crimes. And time and time again we see serious offenders skate by because we have useless judges.
Flagler County needs serious changes in it’s judicial system.
To The Family and Victim.
I am as sorry as I can be that proper sentencing wasn’t carried out. Crimes like this deserve the maximum allowed.
To Brandin Deoliveira
I hope you find no peace in this community. And have to move far away upon release. It’s the least we can do for you after what you have done to ruin lives and victimize someone.
Denali says
Wow, six months in county jail and eight years probation for the violent rape of a child? But multiple years for a first time drug user. Something just ain’t right here. This is not just a slap on the wrist to the offender, it is a slap in the face to the to the public. I guess a 30 year old clean cut white guy can get away with most anything. Why do I suspect that if the perpetrator had been black or brown he would have gotten more than the minimum five years.
Color me as a hard core old fart, but for my money, this guy needs to sit at least the five year minimum in a state penitentiary, not six months in a county jail. Put him where the local population knows how to treat a child rapist. Eight years of probation is a walk in the park compared to what he should be facing. Oh, and he cannot hand out candy on Halloween, wow.
I for one, would love to hear the full reasoning for this insult of a sentence. Did he rat someone out to warrant this treatment? Or did he just cry enough to the judge about not wanting to go to prison. The thought that the probation offsets the prison time just does not cut the mustard. Time to recall a judge . . .
Steve says
A slap on the wrist for this Crime is a gut punch to Justice. This Judge needs to go. 6 months SMH OH but he has extended Probation. Whatever
Dennis says
Flagler is soft on crime. Sad.
Trailer Bob says
What a ridiculous sentence for rape of a minor, and not just once, but ongoing.
He is lucky he didn’t do this to my granddaughter or he would face a real sentence.
And we wonder why the term “revolving door” is used so much here in Flagler County?
Did he pay off the family? The judge?
How does one get such a pass for what he did? Unless there is other information that we, the public, are not privy to.
Fire Perkins says
Understand that Perkins’ number one priority isn’t to be fair and to protect and serve his community. No, his number one priority is to turn around as many cases on the docket as he possibly can. Civil and criminal. To him, its all about the numbers and the path of least resistance.
https://flaglerlive.com/119966/terence-perkins/
Blerbfivefamily says
Question, can a plea deal be overturned by a judge, reason I ask is that the deal was agreed upon between the State Attorney and the victim and her family. If the judge has the power to reject the deal then I wonder why that did not happen.
Justice for ALL says
And the LOUD message this judge sends to all of our daughters! LOUD and CLEAR, your honor!
Skibum says
I spent my entire career working in the criminal justice profession in CA and WA states prior to my retirement and relocation close to the beach here in FL. I’ve seen more than my share of ridiculously absurd minimal sentences handed out to criminal defendants so I shouldn’t be surprised to hear this rapist’s far below normal 6-month sentence. But after reading some of the specifics regarding his criminal elements, to include 1) the use of a weapon in his possession during at least some of the incidents, 2) his level of violence against the victim that included choking her, and 3) the multiple original counts against him, it is shocking to me that the judge would even entertain such a mockery of a plea bargain that would let this man out after such a minimal time behind bars! Who cares about the 8-year probation period… he could have been sentenced up to 15 years in prison at the high end of his sentence range. I can think of no excuse for such a paltry sentence other than the fact that there is way too much discretion in sentencing, and at the risk of “bringing up the race card” I would suggest the near impossibility of anyone being able to show even one very similar criminal case here in FL with a black rapist who has been given such lenience in his sentence. I’m waiting…
Disgusted says
Absolutely appalling , JUSTICE was not served for this victim or for this family, shame on this judge, we can only be thankful that FlaglerLive has written about this, we all shall remember this horrible persons name and the pain and damage he caused to the victim and the victim’s family, we don’t even feel like going back to Captain BBQ again because we relate this sick individual to were he worked!
Peter J DiGiulio says
Well Said!!!
Jane Gentile-Youd says
OMG ! Just when it can’t get worse.
I hope the Judicial Qualifying Commission removes Perkins from the bench for this irresponsible disgraceful decision.
The Rapist may have gotten a discount because he was trained and worked on COUNTY OWNED property being leased for pennies on the dollar to the now mega rich owners of Captains.. (Surprised the victim didn’t sue Captains and the County also….) Perkins is the judge who is allowing the Captains Barbeque – (the owners of the restaurant on Bings Landing) Versus Flagler County lawsuit go on for almost 2 years ( next hearing February 24 it’s all on Flagler County Clerk of Court great website) –
Perkins is giving a free hand at making lawyers on both sides rich and draining our pockets over an illegal decision made by the county commission in November 2018 with our incompetent ( my opinion) overpaid $222,000 yearly salary with perks, county attorney , Al Hadeed, sitting there listening to all this illegal deal being played – never telling the board that you cannot allow a private entity to pay for and build a private building on public land and that you cannot indemnity the owner of the property for insurance purposes ! It’s all on U-tube. Guess Judge Perkins just got himself added to my unfortunate growing S list,…..
L says
Reading these articles really is quite sad, it shows how terrible some people really are. To see a criminal get out with a less than minimum jail sentence for horrible crimes like these is disgusting and the judge must have failed many other victims if this is how he handles these crimes.
Skibum says
While I completely agree with you about this appalling travesty of justice, we should be very careful about associating his employer’s business with his individual criminal behavior. I didn’t see any indication that Captain’s BBQ had any knowledge that this man was raping the young female employee who worked there, nor was there any indication that the crimes occurred at the restaurant. It would be a different scenario if there were indications to the contrary, but there are none that I have seen in what has been reported. Since the news story reported that he is the former manager, obviously there is no association between him and that business and I don’t think it would be fair to imply that the restaurant somehow shares any responsibility for his criminal behavior. I have been a customer of Captain’s BBQ since they opened, and will continue to eat there, as they have really great BBQ!
Gina Weiss says
Misogyny doesn’t fall far from the tree with this case or as they say birds of the same feather flock together!
Greenbean says
Terrible circumstances, unfortunately a lot of the commenters appear to not fully understand that the Judge is merely a referee. The blame (of soft on crime) lies with an elected official who’s title is State Attorney. Pay attention to that race next time it’s on the ballot.
$222k…? That’s incorrect and inflammatory. Again more reading and less typing makes for better accuracy.
Doug says
First and foremost I do not condone this behavior whatsoever and yes, he got away with it a soft sentence. With that being said, we cannot put the entire blame on Flagler being “soft on justice”. Most often, it takes three parties to reach sentencing agreements. That would be our State Attorney’s Office (prosecutor/represents the victim), the defense who’s representing the accused and the sitting Judge, who has the final say but weighs his/her decision heavily on the agreement between the state and defense.
Sadly, most State Attorney Office’s are overwhelmed with tremendous caseloads (and no, I’m not defending them). Our state legislature has known this for many years, yet they don’t fund them sufficiently to hire more attorney’s. Even if they did, the pay is stupidly low and attorney’s usually move onto private practice to make more money. Getting back to this knucklehead Brandin Deoliveira who prays on juvenile girls, most likely this case was pled down and an agreement was made with the victim (and her family), the prosecutor and defense counsel. All would have to be in agreement with the sentence and in the Office of the State Attorney, it’s another notch in the “win” column for them and another form of politics. Is it right? Well, keep reading the comments.
Free Thinker says
Skibim: one of the comments which was posted was because he was a former employee at Captain BBQ unfortunately that person in their mind now relates him back to the place, the person did not say that Captain BBQ had any knowledge that this monster was raping a young girl there. Can’t stop a person thought process.