Riding instructor faces sex charges

BERKLEY -- With his home-grown business, Silver Falcon Stable, and his dark-brown thoroughbred named Dreamer, Joseph M. Silva became a popular figure in Southeastern Massachusetts. For a decade, he taught horseback riding to anyone who wanted to master the art of show jumping or just learn to handle the reins.

But police say he also used his knowledge and popularity to win the trust of teenage girls and then photographed them naked and molested them. Silva, 32, was arrested yesterday at his home in Swansea and charged with four counts of statutory rape of a child, as well as possession of child pornography and posing a child in the nude.

Police said Silva's victims included a girl whom he allegedly abused in Berkley between June 2002, when she was 13, and October 2004, when she was 16, and a girl under the age of 16, whom he allegedly abused in Swansea in 1996. Police said they had identified two other victims, as well, and believe there are more who have yet to come forward. One girl has identified herself in a cache of explicit images found on Silva's computer, police said.

In a search of just one of Silva's 10 computer hard drives, police found 70,000 images, including 265 images of children from Morse Brook Equestrian Center in North Attleborough, Haskins Farm in Berkley, and Holloway Brook Farm in Lakeville. In 86 images, the children were unclothed, according to prosecutors. It was not clear where the nude photographs were taken and if they included images of children from all three farms.

Silva pleaded not guilty in Fall River District Court yesterday and was held on $100,000 bail and ordered to stay away from his alleged victims.

Silva's lawyer, Edward Kelly, called the charges "completely false allegations."

Within the close-knit equestrian world in Southeastern Massachusetts, there was shock, dismay, and questions about what, if any, signs had been missed.

"I'm just devastated," said Randy Larrivee, who owns a tack shop in Rehoboth and has known Silva for 20 years. "I'm licking my wounds and thinking what did I miss? I'm a family man, and I'm sitting here wondering what I could have done differently."

Larrivee said he was troubled because rumors of sexual activity between Silva and his students had swirled through the equestrian community for years. Then in October 2004, the staff at Haskins Farm, where Silva had worked as an instructor for 2 1/2 years, heard rumors that he engaged in child pornography and rape, said Ann Haskins, the co-owner. Haskins said Silva was immediately fired.

Later, Silva landed a job at Holloway Brook, where the website listed him as the show manager. It was unclear whether the staff there checked Silva's background or references before hiring him.

A lot of riders at Haskins were relieved that Silva had left, but some students followed him to Holloway Brook, said Cheryl Lane-Caron, an instructor at Haskins.

A property manager at Holloway Brook, who was holding the reins of an ebony thoroughbred yesterday, said that at his farm, Silva was known as a polite and courteous trainer.

"He's one of the best in my eyes," said the manager, a Lakeville resident who declined to give his name. "I've never seen anything out of him that compares to any of this. He's been doing this for a long time and has a large following. He trains little kids, and the parents have no problem with him."

Tom Haskins, Ann's husband and co-owner of Haskins Farm, said Silva had been living recently in a trailer at Holloway Brook. Silva ran his own business, Silver Falcon Stable, and worked by contract at Holloway Brook and Haskins, Lane-Caron said.

Attempts to reach Morse Brook yesterday were unsuccessful. Silva is not married, and there was no answer at his home phone yesterday.

Larrivee said the charges against Silva fly in the face of the kindness Larrivee has come to know at horse shows and farms across Southeastern Massachusetts.

"Most people get involved in horses because it's a good, clean, wholesome sport," Larrivee said.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com; Simpson at asimpson@globe.com.