Jury convicts man of weapons charges after armed threat at 1-year-old’s birthday party
The prosecutor says Angel Rivera tried to discard the handgun in a vacant lot in Vineland.
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A jury has found a Vineland man guilty of multiple weapons charges stemming from an incident at a birthday party for a 1-year-old child in 2021.
Angel Rivera, 28, was convicted on Oct. 28 of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose following a trial in Cumberland County Superior Court, Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Rivera had a handgun at a birthday party for a 1-year-old in Vineland on June 27, 2021. Prosecutors said that after a physical altercation broke out among partygoers, Rivera displayed the firearm "in order to threaten or harass" another person at the gathering.
Police responded to the scene and encountered Rivera, who fled the area, authorities said. Officers later apprehended him several blocks away. With assistance from a K-9 unit, investigators located the weapon hidden in tall weeds in a vacant lot approximately half a block from where Rivera was found. Prosecutors contended that Rivera had concealed the firearm while fleeing police.
Following the verdict, Rivera was immediately taken into custody.
"Under New Jersey law, Rivera faces a potential prison sentence of five to 10 years, including a minimum parole ineligibility period of three and a half years," the prosecutor said.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 21.
