A former high school basketball coach from New York has pleaded guilty to all indicted charges stemming from the abuse of a young player during a trip to Boston 35 years ago, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

ROBERT “BOB” OLIVA, now a resident of South Carolina, pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape of a child and one count of disseminating pornography to a minor. The charges reflect Oliva’s actions during a trip he took to Boston with a boy, then 14, in the summer of 1976.

“These convictions represent a victory, not just for the survivor whose case was heard in court, but for all victims of child sexual abuse,” Conley said. “The fear and shame those victims so often feel are exploited by abusers to escape accountability. But this case proves there can be accountability, even decades after the fact.”

Oliva was sentenced to five years of probation. Under the terms of his plea, he must register as a sex offender; comply with any sex offender restrictions and regulations under South Carolina law; supply a sample for the state’s DNA database; and undergo sex offender treatment and counseling.

Oliva is also forbidden from coaching and barred from any unsupervised contact with children under 18.

Prior to sentencing, the victim – now an adult and standing a full head taller than Oliva – addressed the court in a statement.

“We did many great, normal things together, but all of that is overshadowed and destroyed by the dirty secret that I buried inside me for all of those years,” he said. “Looking back, the sexual abuse of me by you took my youth away from me …. Hopefully now I can work on becoming a normal, functioning everyday person.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Leora Joseph of Conley’s Child Protection Unit would have sought to prove that Oliva brought the teen to Boston from July 30 through July 31 to see a Red Sox game. While they stayed at the Sheraton Hotel, the evidence would have shown, Oliva assaulted the boy and showed him pornographic movies.

The victim came forward to law enforcement in 2009. Records documenting Oliva’s presence at the hotel in 1976 were destroyed long ago. There is no forensic evidence attached to the case and there were no witnesses.

Conley spearheaded efforts to extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse after repeatedly learning of older cases that could not be prosecuted because – as in the Oliva case – the victims did not disclose their abuse to law enforcement until many years later.

In 2006, those efforts paid off when the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse was extended from 15 years to 27 years.

It was a different aspect of the law, however, that allowed prosecutors to pursue the charges in this case, Conley said. Any time a defendant spends outside of Massachusetts is not counted against the statute of limitations. When Oliva returned to New York after the alleged abuse, the clock on the statute of limitations stopped, allowing prosecutors to present the case to a grand jury, secure the indictments, and ultimately reach today’s result.

Jillian Quigley was the DA’s victim-witness advocate on the case. Oliva was represented by attorney Michael Doolin.