A Fitchburg mom and her boyfriend appeared in court Tuesday as police and relatives continue to search for her missing 5-year-old son.
Jeremiah Oliver was last seen by his extended family in September.
Officials learned about his disappearance in mid-December, after his older sister told a teacher about the situation.
Prosecutors asked the judge to hold Oliver without bail, pointing to a file that spans two years with the Department of Children and Families which documents abuse and neglect of Jeremiah and his siblings.
“Over the summer she stated she was taking the child out of school because she was tired of dealing with DCF, she was sick of DCF, she wasn’t going to comply with DCF,” one of the prosecuting attorneys said.
Elsa Oliver was held on $100,000 cash bail and will be required to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet if posted. However before she will be released she will need to clear of a contempt of court charge for not providing them with the whereabouts of Jeremiah.
Oliver was charged with reckless endangerment of a child and being an accessory after the fact.
Her boyfriend, Alberto Sierra, is being held without bail.
Sierra was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a child.
Prosecutors say Sierra admits to being a member of the Latin Kings gang, and may have used his status within the group to intimidate people.
Oliver will be back in court on January 10th on to face a competency hearing.
Jeremiah’s father, Jose Oliver, appeared outside the courthouse on Tuesday and said officials are doing their job.
“They are doing their job. Let them do their job. I just want to find my son.” Oliver said.
Police were also focusing on the significance of body art on the mother. They say they are trying to find the significance of a tattoo which reportedly has a date from several months ago.
“Usually when it comes to dates, we know it’s a sad story behind it. We tried to look in our files and she didn’t do the tattoo here,” Junior Benevides, a local tattoo artist, said.
Volunteers searched for Jeremiah in Fitchburg over the weekend.
Jose Oliver, who lives in Connecticut, said he will continue searching the area.
Jeremiah’s disappearance has led to a full investigation by Governor Patrick and two social workers have been fired.
Anyone with information about the boy is asked to call the State Police Detectives (508-832-9124) or Fitchburg Police (978-345-9648).