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Geoffrey Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the sentencing of Victor R. Rivas this week, who will spend the next seven years behind bars for his role in operating the heroin-selling organization out of the storefront on Broadway in Newburgh.
Berman said that beginning in 2016, Victor M. Rivas, with the assistance of Julio Davila, Victor R. Rivas, Ronald “Louis” Matias and Edward Cardona ran an organization engaged in distributing heroin in Newburgh from the storefront, which posed as a barber shop or the “Soccer Shop.” The store stayed open for 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the sole purpose of selling heroin.
“Constant foot traffic in and out of the Soccer Shop reflected the volume of heroin the defendants were selling,” Berman added. “Over the course of a year, the organization distributed well over three kilograms of heroin out of the Soccer Shop.”
During their investigation, law enforcement officials also discovered a nearby storage unit that was used for storing the proceeds of the heroin drug distribution. More than $260,000 in cash was seized from the unit, and nearly $45,000 was seized from Victor R. Reyes at the time of his arrest.
Victor M. Rivas, 52, of Newburgh, the leader of the organization, was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of supervised release; Davila, 28, of Newburgh, was previously sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and four years of supervised release; and Matias, 36, of Newburgh, was previously sentenced to five years in prison and four years of supervised release. Cardona, 35, of Newburgh, is expected to be sentenced in April.
“Victor M. Rivas, together with his sons Julio A. Davila and Victor R. Rivas, and their employees, maintained a shop on a main thoroughfare in Newburgh, within a stone’s throw of a bakery, a church, and a post office, that was open on a daily basis for the sole purpose of selling heroin," Berman said. "The serious sentences these defendants received prove that those who endanger the community through their distribution of illegal drugs will be brought to justice."
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