Fall River Horror: Rapist Exploits New Immigrant, Sentenced to Only 8 Years

An illegal immigrant from Brazil raped a woman who just immigrated to Fall River, Massachusetts a few days earlier. He faced up to 90 years in prison but was sentence to 8 years, likely to serve 6 years if he behaves in prison. Since we live in Massachusetts which is an unofficial sanctuary state, when he is released ICE will not be notified – instead he’ll be released back on to the streets of Massachusetts. Let’s review the facts of the case.

A violent welcome to Fall River

The following was pulled from court documents

In late February of 2024, a Brazilian woman emigrated to Fall River, Massachusetts with her nephew and small children. She had no friends or family in the city, so she relied on a Brazilian chat room for assistance. A married couple residing in Fall River offered the victim a job at their restaurant which she accepted.

On March 1, the woman was put in contact with Elias Rodrigues Dos Santos (the brother of the woman who offered the victim a job) who was going to assist her with finding an apartment. Shortly after connecting, Dos Santos told the woman “she could make quick money selling nude photos and videos” of herself. She did not comply.

The victim met with Dos Santos to look at an apartments. Dos Santos drove her to see several apartments, but then parked his car at an empty and secluded parking lot. Dos Santos told the victim that her 12-year old daughter was “a treasure” and that “she could make even more money” if she took nude photos and videos of her. She declined, but Dos Santos persisted by showing her videos of child pornography that was on his cell phone.

The victim asked to be brought home, but Dos Santos refused and told her she was staying with him. He told her to get in the back seat where Dos Santos raped the victim. Afterwards, he dropped the victim back off at the apartment where she was staying. He continued to message her requesting nude photos of herself and her 12-year old daughter. The victim reported the incident to the police on March 4, 2024, the Monday after the incident. There was confirmed DNA evidence of the rape.

A review of the indictments

Elias Rodrigues Dos Santos was indicted on the following charges and potential punishments:

• Indecent A&B on Person 14 or Over (up to 5 years)

• Two counts of rape (up to 20 years each)

• Assault to rape (up to 20 years)

• Solicit to create child pornography (up to 20 years)

• Possession of child pornography (up to 5 years)

In total, Dos Santos faced a maximum of 90 years in prison sold based on the indictments.

$15,000 bail release

Even though Does Santos was a flight risk, per court records he was given $150,000 bail. According to court records, he paid $15,000 (or 10% of the bail) and was released with an ankle monitor.

Is there more of a flight risk than a man facing 90 years in prison illegally living in America? Apparently, the judge didn’t think so and approved his bail. Even though he had $15,000 to pay bail, he was given taxpayer funded court appointed attorneys.

There is no minimum sentencing for rape in Massachusetts

While there is minimum sentencing for rape of children, disabled people or rape with a weapon, there is no minimum sentencing for simple forced rape. You can read my article on the subject here.

Concurrent sentencing allows criminals to serve very little time

Dos Santos plead guilty to all the charges except for the solicit to create child pornography charge (the prosecution decided not to prosecute this charge).

Dos Santos now faced 70 years of total time, but Judge Thomas McGuire Jr. sentenced Dos Santos to concurrent sentencing. When sentences run concurrently in law, a defendant serves multiple punishments for different convictions at the same time, rather than one after another. The total time spent in prison is equal to the longest single sentence. This is far more lenient than consecutive sentencing, where time is added up. So instead of serving the maximum of 70 years, Dos Santos was sentenced to 8 years. With good behavior, he could be out in 6 years.

In Massachusetts, prisoners can earn “good time” to reduce their prison sentence. For state prison, inmates can shave off 7.5 days per or more per month, effectively reducing more than a quarter of their sentence. This means Dos Santos could reduce his 8 year sentence to less than 6 years if he behaves in prison.

Massachusetts polices will release Dos Santos back onto the streets

Dos Santos is an illegal alien. Massachusetts state policy is to not cooperate with ICE, so when Dos Santos finishes his time he’ll be released back onto the streets of Massachusetts unless ICE figures out the date of his release on their own.

The Dos Santos case highlights key issues with the Massachusetts judicial system, failure of our legislators and the dangers of playing politics. First, Dos Santos was an illegal alien residing in Fall River thanks to President Biden’s weak border policies. With Massachusetts being a sanctuary state, Dos Santos didn’t have much fear that local police would detain him for violating federal immigration laws. Second, Massachusetts policies will likely result in Dos Santos being released back onto the streets unless ICE figures out his release date. Third, a man with major incentives to flee the country was allowed pay $15,000 to gain his freedom. Fourth, there is no minimum sentencing laws for rape and a man clearly in the dark world of child pornography was allowed to freely walk the streets of Fall River. Finally, it’s hard to understand how someone facing 70 years could be given concurrent sentencing that basically allows most of his crimes to go unpunished.