United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

Project Safe Neighborhoods: BRIDGEPORT JURY CONVICTS WATERBURY ‘ARMED CAREER CRIMINAL'

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a Bridgeport federal jury today convicted JOSE RIVERA, age 36, of Waterbury, Connecticut, for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The trial began on the morning of March 8.

The evidence presented at trial revealed that on the evening of March 4, 2003, officers with the Waterbury Police Department responded to a dispatch concerning a gang fight that was breaking out at 233 River Street in Waterbury. Testimony at trial established that this address was a meeting place for Los Solidos street gang members. When police arrived in an unmarked vehicle, the officers saw RIVERA in the doorway of 233 River Street holding a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun, another individual holding a machete, and numerous members of the Los Solidos street gang. Upon seeing the police, RIVERA and the individual with the machete fled into the building at 233 River Street with the sawed-off shotgun, and the police officers pursued them. RIVERA ran into an open apartment on the second floor of the building and attempted to hide under a bed in a bedroom of the apartment, but the officers dragged him from underneath the bed, arrested him and seized the sawed-off shotgun.

RIVERA is a convicted felon, and it is a violation of federal law for a person who has been previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm that moved in interstate or foreign commerce. RIVERA has previously been convicted of four violent felonies, and therefore faces a maximum term of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum term of 15 years imprisonment under the Armed Career Criminal Act. He is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Stefan F. Underhill on May 28, 2004.

"Mr. Rivera's case was the first Project Safe Neighborhoods case that this Office has prosecuted since the program expanded into Waterbury last summer, and today's conviction is a great accomplishment," U.S. Attorney O'Connor stated. "As the PSN initiative seeks to remove violent individuals and career criminals from our communities before they have an opportunity to use their weapons, it is important to note that this individual will spend, at a minimum, the next 15 years of his life in a federal prison, far away from his home, simply for illegally possessing a gun."

This matter was investigated by the Waterbury Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric J. Glover.

The Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative is aimed at reducing gun violence, deterring illegal possession of guns, and improving the safety of residents in Connecticut's cities. Participants in the initiative include community members and organizations as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. More information on the nationwide Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative can be found at www.psn.gov.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov