Retired NYPD Officer Convicted in Manhattan Federal Court of Conspiring to Distribute Narcotics
Defendant Also Convicted of Using, Carrying, and Possessing a Firearm in Connection with the Drug Conspiracy
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALFREDO RIVERA, a retired New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officer, was found guilty yesterday on both counts of an indictment that charged him with participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and using, carrying, and possessing a firearm in connection with that conspiracy. The verdict came following a four-day jury trial in Manhattan federal court before U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest.
RIVERA’s co-defendant, Rafael Jimenez, a former auxiliary police sergeant with the NYPD, previously pled guilty on November 2, 2011, to participating in the cocaine distribution conspiracy.
According to the Indictment and the evidence at trial:
During a January 12, 2010, meeting with a government informant (the “First Informant”), Jimenez said he would use an armed retired NYPD officer to assist in the transportation of cocaine. In February of 2010, Jimenez and RIVERA met with a second government informant (the “Second Informant”), whom Jimenez and RIVERA believed to be a large-scale cocaine distributor. During this meeting, RIVERA—who was armed with an NYPD-issued nine millimeter handgun—told the Second Informant that if stopped by the police, “I just show my I.D. and my shield...they always say, ‘get out of here.’” Jimenez and RIVERA subsequently agreed to transport a 10 kilogram load of cocaine from a warehouse in Long Island to a narcotics customer in the Bronx, New York. RIVERA agreed to be paid $1,200 per kilogram of cocaine transported, for a total of $12,000 for 10 kilograms of cocaine, and further agreed to use a portion of that money to pay Jimenez for his role in the transaction.
On March 23, 2010, RIVERA, while armed with the handgun, drove to a warehouse in Long Island, where he was observed by law enforcement agents picking up a duffel bag that contained approximately 10 kilograms of a white substance consistent with the appearance of cocaine. RIVERA then drove the bag from the warehouse to the Bronx.
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RIVERA, 53, of the Bronx, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 18, 2012. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Jimenez, 58, of New York, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2012. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Brian A. Jacobs and Howard S. Master are in charge of the prosecution.
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALFREDO RIVERA, a retired New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officer, was found guilty yesterday on both counts of an indictment that charged him with participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and using, carrying, and possessing a firearm in connection with that conspiracy. The verdict came following a four-day jury trial in Manhattan federal court before U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest.
RIVERA’s co-defendant, Rafael Jimenez, a former auxiliary police sergeant with the NYPD, previously pled guilty on November 2, 2011, to participating in the cocaine distribution conspiracy.
According to the Indictment and the evidence at trial:
During a January 12, 2010, meeting with a government informant (the “First Informant”), Jimenez said he would use an armed retired NYPD officer to assist in the transportation of cocaine. In February of 2010, Jimenez and RIVERA met with a second government informant (the “Second Informant”), whom Jimenez and RIVERA believed to be a large-scale cocaine distributor. During this meeting, RIVERA—who was armed with an NYPD-issued nine millimeter handgun—told the Second Informant that if stopped by the police, “I just show my I.D. and my shield...they always say, ‘get out of here.’” Jimenez and RIVERA subsequently agreed to transport a 10 kilogram load of cocaine from a warehouse in Long Island to a narcotics customer in the Bronx, New York. RIVERA agreed to be paid $1,200 per kilogram of cocaine transported, for a total of $12,000 for 10 kilograms of cocaine, and further agreed to use a portion of that money to pay Jimenez for his role in the transaction.
On March 23, 2010, RIVERA, while armed with the handgun, drove to a warehouse in Long Island, where he was observed by law enforcement agents picking up a duffel bag that contained approximately 10 kilograms of a white substance consistent with the appearance of cocaine. RIVERA then drove the bag from the warehouse to the Bronx.
* * *
RIVERA, 53, of the Bronx, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 18, 2012. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Jimenez, 58, of New York, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2012. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Brian A. Jacobs and Howard S. Master are in charge of the prosecution.
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