Related Content
Press Release
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that VICTOR RIVERA pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery between October 2019 and November 2020. RIVERA is scheduled to be sentenced on April 28, 2022, by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As he has now admitted, Victor Rivera committed a year-long spree of armed robberies and attempted robberies of jewelers and other owners of luxury watches, threatening his victims with guns and, during the course of one robbery, shooting a victim. Now Rivera awaits sentencing for this terrifying conduct.”
According to the Superseding Indictment, statements made in court, as well as other publicly filed documents in this case:
From at least in or about October 2019 up to and including November 2020, VICTOR RIVERA, and others known and unknown, agreed to rob victims of luxury watches worth up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The watches owned by victims targeted in the robberies included Richard Mille, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe watches owned by jewelers as part of the jewelers’ businesses based in Manhattan’s Diamond District. RIVERA used guns to commit several of the robberies, and in one robbery, shot a victim, who survived.
The eleven robberies and attempted robberies included the following:
* * *
RIVERA, 30, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, which carries a maximum prison term of twenty years. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the New York City Police Department. Mr. Williams also thanked the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Englewood Cliffs Police Department, the Weehawken Police Department, and the Nassau County Police Department for their assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Mathew Andrews, Andrew K. Chan, and Celia Cohen are in charge of the prosecution.
Nicholas Biase
(212) 637-2600