TALLAHASSEE, Fla––Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office of Statewide Prosecution Office today secured the conviction and sentencing of Jorge Rivera, of Hillsborough County, for conspiracy and trafficking in heroin.
“Today my Office of Statewide Prosecution secured another vital conviction of a monster tainting our streets with deadly heroin,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “I want to thank the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for their great investigative work and my statewide prosecutors Joseph Ravelo and Joe Spataro for the minimum mandatory sentence they secured in this case.”
The Hillsborough County Sherriff’s Office led the investigation that uncovered Rivera had obtained multiple ounces of heroin from two main suppliers. Throughout the investigation, authorities used electronic surveillance in the form of wiretaps to determine when Rivera would meet with sources. In October 2015, HCSO saw Rivera meet with suppliers and apprehended the defendant with more than 100 grams of heroin in possession. Attorney General Bondi’s Office of Statewide Prosecution previously tried and convicted both suppliers of conspiracy to traffic heroin, 28 grams or more, in July 2017.
The Hillsborough County jury found Rivera guilty of conspiracy to traffic heroin, 28 grams or more, and trafficking in heroin, 28 grams or more. The Honorable Samantha Ward, Circuit Judge for the 13th Judicial Circuit, sentenced Rivera to 25 years as a minimum mandatory sentence in the Department of Corrections.
Assistant Statewide Prosecutors Joseph Ravelo and Joe Spataro prosecuted the case.
