Professional Documents
Culture Documents
9l
(Rev.
IJnited
District Court
States
WESTERN
DISTRICT OF
NEW YORK
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
v.
/0/7
BLAKE RIVERA,
VICTOR RIVERA
CHAYANNE RIVERA
Defendants.
I, the undersigned complainant being duly sworn state the following is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and
belief.
from in or about May 20 1 5 through to the present, in the Western District of New York and elsewhere, the
defendants, BLAKE RIVERA, VICTOR RIVERA and CHAYANNE RIVERA did knowingly, willtully, and
unlawfully combine, conspire, and agree together and with others to possess with intent to distribute and to
distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 280 grams of cocaine base and 100 grams or more of heroin, in
violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846; and did knowingly and unlawfully possess firearms in
furtherance of the conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(c) and2.
I further state that I am a Special Agent of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and that this complaint
the following facts:
/)
Yes
)No
Signature of Complainant
peuruarv
Date
fl.
zoto
at
of Judicial Officer
is based on
16-MJ-
Yl/tr
v.
BLAKE RIVERA
CHAYANNE RIVERA
VICTOR RTVERA
Defendants.
l.
and as
such I am an "investigative or law enforcement officer" of the United States within the meaning
of Section 25lO(7) of Title 18, United States Code, that is, an officer of the United States who is
empowered by law to conduct investigations of, and to make arrests for, offenses enumerated in
Title2l,United
Title
2sr6(t).
2.
I have been an employee of the DEA for six years and have been assigned to the
2010.
special agent with the United States Secret Service for eight
career, I have participated in cases involving the distribution of cocaine, cocaine base, heroin and
other controlled substances. I have previously assisted in investigations that involved the
with the DEA, I successfully completed DEA basic agent training, an intensive nineteen-week
course covering all aspects of drug enforcement including electronic
surveillance. I am familiar
with how controlled substances are obtained, diluted, packaged, distributed, sold and used within
the framework of drug trafficking and how drug traffickers utilize electronic communications to
3.
zuVERA, VICTOR RIVERA and CHAYANNE RIVERA with violations of Title 21, U.S.C.
846 (conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 5 kilograms or more of
cocaine, 280 grams or more of cocaine base and 100 grams of heroin), and Title 18 U.S.C. $ 924(c)
(possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking).
4.
through my participation in this investigation. It is also based upon review of reports prepared by
various police agencies, information received from other experienced narcotics investigators and
law enforcement agents and officers, and my review of conversations that have been intercepted
pursuant to court-auth
5.
of
the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Rochester Resident Office and the
Rochester police Department into a narcotics distribution organization based in Rochester, New
york,
Rivera.
2015 and has involved physical and GPS surveillance of the three defendants. The investigation
has also involved use of one or more confidential informants who have made controlled purchases
of narcotics from the defendants during the course of the investigation. As more fully set forth
below, the investigation culminated this past Wednesday, February 17, with the execution of
search warrants at the residences ofthe three defendants and a rental storage unit used by the
defendants and rented in the name of Grissel Rivera (Blake Rivera's wife), which search warrants
* l4 firearms,
The Defendants
6.
old.
Victor Rivera is 51 years old and is the father of Blake Rivera and Chayanne
misdemeanor convictions for Petit Larceny and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property.
8.
old.
g.
During the last nine months, the DEA and RPD have been investigating the drug
trafficking activities of Blake Rivera, Victor Rivera (Blake's father) and Chayanne Rivera
(Blake's brother). During the course of the investigation, several controlled purchases of cocaine
were made from the defendants. Specifically, more than four controlled purchases of cocaine
were made from Blake Rivera at 164 Curtis Street. Additionatly, at least two controlled
purchases of cocaine were made from Chayanne Riveraat164 Curtis
the
Curtis Street is the residence of Victor Rivera, who lived at the house during the course of
Seizure of Heroin
10.
On Decemb er 4,2015,I was contacted by New York State Police Sr. Investigator
FedEx
Scott Shepard who advised that a search warrant had been obtained for a suspicious
package addressed
has
revealed is Victor Rivera's residence). The recipient name on the package was "Ashton
Johnson," which appears to be a fictitious name as no one by that name resides at that residence.
In my training and experience, I know that illegal narcotics which are shipped by mail or overnight
delivery service routinely use fictitious names for the recipient and the sender in order to conceal
the true intended recipient from law enforcement. The package was found to contain
heroin. Significantly,
package heroin were seized from 164 Curtis Street during Wednesday's search warrants'
11.
17.
12.
Lane
The investigation has revealed that Blake Rivera resides at276 Woodsmoke
13.
assault style
mm
In the master bedroom under the bed, police found a Del-ton DTI-15, 5.56
contained $77,599 in cash. Another approximately $5,946 in cash was seized in the master
bedroom and other parts of the house. The total amount of cash seized at the residence was
$346,460.
14.
The investigation has revealed that 164 Curtis Street is Victor Rivera's residence,
and also the location where Blake Rivera and Chayanne Rivera stored and distributed
drugs. It is
found
also the address on the FedEx package intercepted by the New York State Police which was
only
to contain approximately 612 grams of heroin. When police made entry, Victor was the
occupant ofthe house.
15.
police found that the doors to the master bedroom and master bathroom were
locks.
in a shoe box
total of approximately 533 grams of cocaine base. Also in the master bedroom
including
police found drug paraphernalia used to process and package controlled substances,
caliber hollow point ammunition and one loose round of 5.56 mm rifle ammunition was also
16.
In a different upstairs bedroom (bedroom #2) which was Victor Rivera's bedroom,
police found a .357 magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, loaded with 5 rounds of hollow point .357
revolver, officers seized two empty prescription bottles and one empty prescription box with
Victor Rivera's name on it. Victor fuvera's Social Security card and
a vehicle
were also on the night stand. Underneath the mattress of the bedroom, police found
approximately $1,005 in cash.
17.
In the Attic of the house, police found a Sentry Safe. Significantly, officers
Colwick during
opened the Sentry safe with a key obtained from Chayanne Rivera's house at245
the search at that residence (see
weighing
lg.
In the kitchen of the house, officers seized a wallet containing Victor Rivera's
Multiple
driver,s license. A loaded 9 mm Ruger handgun was found on top of kitchen cabinets.
rounds of 12 gauge ammunition were on top of the refrigerator.
19.
In the dining room, two black shoeboxes were found containing packaging
20.
In the living room/tv room, an AK 47 style short-barreled rifle with pistol grip was
magazines loaded
shotgun with pistol grip, loaded with one round in chamber and two rounds in the magazine tube,
was found in the living room along with a sawed off double barreled 12 gauge shotgun.
21.
The investigation that this is Chayanne Rivera's residence. When officers made
entry, Chayanne was in the house along with his wife and child.
22.
As noted above, a key ring containing several keys was found on the kitchen island
to l64Curtis
Street where one of the keys opened the side door and another opened the front
and
164
23.
In the basement of 245 Colwick, officers seized an AK-47 Style firearm, next to
24.
This storage unit is rented in the name of Blake Rivera's wife, Grissel Rivera.
Blake Rivera was surveilled going to the storage unit on numerous occasions during the course of
the investigation.
25.
Inside the storage unit, officers found a 1998 BMW sedan, registered in the name of
Grissel Rivera at 164 Curtis Street. Inside the trunk of the BMW, officers seized seven brick
shaped quantities of cocaine, weighing a total of approximately 6.8 kilograms of cocaine.
26.
Also inside the BMW, officers found seven firearms: one SKS style firearm loaded;
two handguns (one of which was loaded); two AK-47 style firearms; one shotgun with
stock (loaded); and one AR-15 style
firearm.
a sawed
off
CONCLUSION
WHEREFORE, based upon the foregoing, I respectfully submit that there is probable
cause to believe that from
ANd
CHAYANNE
RIVERA violated Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846 (conspiracy to possess with intent
to distribute and to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, 280 grams or more of cocaine base
(crack cocaine), and 100 grams or more of
heroin.
the three defendants possessed multiple firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking crimes in
Respectfully submitted,
SABATINO SMITH
Special Agent
Drug Enforcement Administration
Sworn to before me this
day of February,2016
fi
JONATHAN W. FELDMAN
STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
DISTzuCT OF NEW YORK
10