45-year-old Roberto "Scarface" Rivas was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton after pleading guilty to his crimes on January 3, 2023.
The investigation into Rivas sold meth to an informant. An arrest warrant was issued for that sale and when the police went to execute the warrant, Rivas ran out of the back of his girlfriend's house and hid in the brush with two duffel bags. Inside the duffel bags were almost four 4 kilos of cocaine, 2.5 kilos of meth, 133 grams of heroin, 600 grams of marijuana, and more than $90,000 in cash. Rivas tossed the bags into the brush in an attempt to hide them.
When officers found the duffel bags, he was charged and pleaded guilty.
While searching the girlfriend's home, police found a hidden closet concealed as a bookshelf. Rivas admitted he had it built to help him hide from authorities when they came to arrest him.
Rivas' girlfriend was also charged and convicted of harboring a fugitive for her role in helping him evade arrest in her home.
At the hearing, according to the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas, the court heard additional evidence about his lengthy criminal history that started when he was just 12 years old. Rivas has been a poly-substance, multi-kilogram narcotics distributor that operated in the Mathis area for years.
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