Easton man accused of raping woman he met through Facebook

EASTON, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) - A woman reported she was raped last week by an Easton man she found on social media while advertising her business, police said.

The 28-year-old woman was leaving Valdeir Ferreira's Washington St., apartment on Sept. 15, after installing a device that enables Portuguese-language television channels, when Ferreira followed her outside and raped her on the back deck, she told police.

An officer found the victim in her car about a quarter of a mile from the suspect's apartment.

"He found a female inside the vehicle, who appeared to be injured, bruised, swollen face, and she was crying," said Easton Deputy Police Chief Keith Boone. "There was a language barrier, but he was able to decipher that she was indicating she was sexually assaulted."

The victim used a voice-activated translation app on her phone to communicate with the officer that she had been raped, Boone said.

Police arrested Ferreira the following Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated rape and threatening to commit a crime in Taunton District Court, and was held on $100,000 bail.

Ferreira's attorney. Kenneth Fredette, declined to comment on the case, but told FOX25 he expects his client to be indicted in two to three weeks in Fall River Superior Court before his scheduled Oct. 20 probable cause hearing can take place.

The victim told police she advertises her business to the Brazilian community on Facebook. She had arranged the installation with Ferreira's wife, who wasn't home the night of the attack, she told police.

Easton police are now warning the public about the dangers of using social media for in-home jobs.

"You don't know where you're going whenever you're hired," Boone said, adding that both the contractor and the client put themselves at risk. "This is a unique situation to us here in Easton, but this can happen anywhere."

Detectives found evidence a sexual assault was committed at the property, Boone said.

Neighbor Matt Grant said the allegations are shocking.

"I just heard he got arrested, and that's about it. And I haven't seen the guy since," Grant said. "Couldn't think of the guy even doing that. He was always pretty nice."

Cox Media Group