WHAT: Career Criminal SentencingWHO: Daniel Rivera, 27, 4251 Gulfstream Drive, East Naples
WHEN: Monday, April 14, 2008
WHERE: Collier County Circuit Court
CHARGE: Robbery With A Weapon
SUMMARY: Circuit Judge Fred Hardt sentenced Rivera to life in prison for his role in a robbery at an East Naples Wal-Mart store on Aug. 19, 2006.
Hardt adjudicated Rivera guilty and sentenced him as a habitual felony offender. The sentence was the maximum punishment Rivera could receive under state statutes. A life prison sentence in Florida means for life with no hope of parole.
On March 6 a jury found Rivera guilty of stealing a television from the Wal-Mart at 3451 U.S. 41 E. and attempting to stab a store manager as he made his getaway.
Reports gave this account:
A store manager observed Rivera place a TV into a shopping cart and leave the store without paying around 3 p.m. The manager confronted Rivera in the parking lot. Rivera pulled a knife from his pocket and tried to stab the manager.
Rivera then jumped into a waiting get-away vehicle with the TV and drove off.
CCSO deputies located Rivera outside his apartment later that day and arrested him. He has been in the Collier County jail since his arrest.
Rivera is a documented career criminal in Collier County. All of his prior felony convictions are in Collier County.
On March 27, 1995, Rivera was sentenced to six months in jail, one year of house arrest and five years of state probation on a charge of unarmed robbery. On April 10, 2000, he was sentenced to six months jail on a charge of grand theft. Also on April 10, 2000, he was sentenced to 14 months in state prison for violating his probation on the unarmed robbery charge.
On Jan. 6, 2003, he received a 36-month prison sentence for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and aggravated fleeing and eluding. He was released from prison on Jan. 6, 2005.
