NEWPORT — The police yesterday picked up School Committee candidate Robert. T. Oliveira on a year-old arrest warrant, charging him with making harassing phone calls to a Tiverton woman who described herself as an ex-girlfriend. He has pleaded no contest to similar charges in the past; elected officials in Newport have also complained about Oliveira’s calls and personal attacks.

Tiverton police obtained the most recent arrest warrant on June 26 of last year after the woman complained to them about more than one call Oliveira allegedly made to her on her cell phone.

“She stated she was in a dating relationship for some months” and that she had sought to end the relationship in May, said Deputy Chief Nicholas Maltais. The following month, he said, “He called her and made vulgar and threatening statements to her.”

The police obtained a warrant charging Oliveira, 41, with one domestic count of making crank or obscene phone calls, a misdemeanor. The warrant lists his address as 372 Coddington Highway, but the city Canvassing Office where Oliveira recently declared his candidacy for School Committee lists his address as 30 Bellevue Ave., Apt. 1.

A Newport patrolman saw Oliveira jogging on Bellevue Avenue in front of The Elms mansion shortly before 8 a.m. yesterday, said Lt. William Fitzgerald. He said the officer believed an arrest for Oliveira was outstanding and, after confirming his belief, stopped Oliveira and took him into custody. Newport turned him over to Tiverton police around 10:30 a.m.

Maltais said Tiverton police brought Oliveira to District Court, Newport, where he pleaded not guilty and was released on bail of $5,000 with surety, requiring 10 percent of the amount in cash, or the full amount in property.

Oliveira, who describes himself as an independent sales consultant in the travel industry, ran unsuccessfully for School Committee in 2004 and for City Council in 2006.

Last year, School Committee chairman Charles Shoemaker, a frequent target of Oliveira’s criticisms, complained about a call from Oliveira. No charges were filed against Oliveira.

In 2006, after losing his bid for City Council, Oliveira sent an e-mail to the media in which he called one councilman “a drunk” and another a “racist” and a “feeble hillbilly.” He also brought up the sexual orientation of a third council member in a critical context. Councilman Charles Duncan called the police on the advice of his lawyer, who cited Oliveira’s past problems with the police in Lincoln.

In 2002, Oliveira admitted to making early morning phone calls to answering machines of Town Hall officials in Lincoln. He threatened “casualties” and “bloodshed” if the officials did not do something to remove then-Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster from office. Oliveira pleaded no contest in District Court to five charges of making crank/obscene phone calls. He received a one-year suspended sentence and one year of probation and the judge ordered him to attend substance-abuse counseling.

The same year, he pleaded guilty to domestic simple assault in Newport. He received a one-year sentence, with all but 10 days suspended, and was ordered to undergo alcohol counseling.

Oliveira also pleaded no contest in 2001 to a disorderly conduct charge in Tiverton. He received six months of probation.

Neither Maltais nor Fitzgerald could specify why it took a year for the police to arrest him on a year-old warrant.

“It’s not unusual that some period of time will lapse when someone is wanted on a warrant,” said Maltais, who wasn’t sure exactly how Newport police knew to pick up Oliveira.

Fitzgerald couldn’t speak to the Oliveira case, but said that departments communicate with each other, sometimes by phone and sometimes by teletype. The information is related to patrol officers at roll call, but they may learn about warrants from other sources, he said.

Arrest warrants for minor crimes are “not a real high importance,” Fitzgerald said, adding, “There’s quite a bit of lag time. If it was a severe felony, it would be a different story.”

rsalit@projo.com