A 45-year-old New Bedford man will spend two and a half years in jail after pleading guilty to a string of attacks on women that stretched from a 2024 punch during an argument with a girlfriend to a 2025 break-in at a victim's home while a restraining order was supposed to keep him away. Michael Silva entered his guilty plea on October 27 in New Bedford District Court, admitting to four separate charges tied to incidents that prosecutors say reveal a pattern of violence against women going back years.
Silva pleaded guilty to assault and battery in violation of a restraining order, domestic assault and battery, larceny from a building, and threats to commit a crime, according to New Bedford Guide. Judge Heath Antonio handed down a 2.5-year sentence in the House of Correction on the restraining-order violation, to be followed by five years of supervised probation, the outlet reports. Silva also received a concurrent six-month sentence for the threats conviction, meaning it will run alongside his other time rather than adding to it.
Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III did not mince words about the defendant, saying Silva is a career criminal with a history of beating women and does not belong on the street. Quinn credited Judges Joseph Harrington and Heath Antonio with holding Silva accountable for his violent behavior, according to the same report. The district attorney's office has described Silva as having a history of violent offenses and prior jail time.
A Pattern That Spanned Two Years
The earliest incident described in the case dates to March 3, 2024, when Silva was dating one of the victims. During an argument, he punched her in the face with a closed fist, causing a swollen lump and bruising, per the report from New Bedford Guide. That relationship-based assault became the basis for the domestic assault and battery charge he later pleaded guilty to.
Nearly a year later, on February 21, 2025, Silva turned his aggression toward a second woman, telling her, “When you walk to Dunkin' Donuts, you better watch your back and have someone with you.” The threat was specific enough, and alarming enough, to become its own criminal count — the threats to commit a crime charge that resulted in Silva's concurrent six-month sentence.
Violating a Restraining Order to Attack Again
The most serious incident came on October 2, 2025. At that point a restraining order was active against Silva, meant to keep him away from the victim entirely. Instead, he entered her home and punched her multiple times in the face with a closed fist, causing swelling and a black eye, the outlet reports. Before leaving, he stole her cell phone — a detail that became the basis for the larceny from a building charge.
That break-in, committed in direct defiance of a court order designed to protect the victim, drew the stiffest penalty of the four convictions. Under Massachusetts law, violating a restraining order while committing assault and battery on a family or household member carries a maximum of 2.5 years in the house of correction and a fine of up to five thousand dollars, according to the Massachusetts General Court. Separately, the underlying domestic assault and battery charge itself carries the same maximum exposure of 2.5 years and a $5,000 fine under state statute, per the Massachusetts General Court.
A Pending Sex Charge Adds a New Layer
Since his guilty plea, Silva has been rearrested on a separate sex charge, which remains pending, according to Quinn. The report does not provide further detail on the allegations behind that case or where it currently stands in the court process.
The sentence handed to Silva offers one point of comparison with another New Bedford domestic violence case prosecuted years earlier. In that case, a 44-year-old repeat domestic batterer named Paul Powers was sentenced to serve five to seven years in state prison along with two years of probation after his release, for strangling his girlfriend, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office. That case involved a state prison sentence rather than a house of correction term, reflecting the different severity of the underlying conduct.
Silva's case was first reported locally by WBSM, which covered the sentencing as part of its crime reporting out of New Bedford. For now, Silva begins serving his jail term while the separate sex charge against him continues to work its way through the courts.
