November 28, 2023
(McKinney, Texas) – Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis announced that Dominic Miguel Rivera, 40, of Plano, Texas, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for first degree felony Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine after a jury found him guilty. “This seven-time felon’s parole in Dallas County ended only eight months before he made the career-ending decision of dealing again in Collin County, where he had enough methamphetamine for 100 people to each take separate doses. Collin County will not tolerate career drug dealers,” said Willis after sentencing.
On November 15, 2022, Richardson Police Department officers Nicholas Ward and Maurice Johnson conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that Rivera was a passenger in. Officers immediately noticed that Rivera had a backpack tucked tightly between his legs and was holding his chest with one hand. During a search of Rivera’s person, Officer Johnson found a loaded handgun inside Rivera’s jacket in the same spot he had been holding when officers approached.
Rivera originally provided a false name to officers, but once his identity was confirmed through his driver’s license, a check of Rivera’s criminal history showed multiple prior felony convictions. Rivera was subsequently arrested for the offense of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon.
Officer Benjamin Masters conducted a search of the backpack that had been at Rivera’s feet and found an additional loaded magazine for the handgun found in Rivera’s jacket, a Velcro pouch containing an electronic scale and multiple empty baggies, a pill bottle containing marijuana that had been broken down for distribution, and a glass container with a crystalline substance inside that was later confirmed to be 22.61 grams of methamphetamine. McKinney Police Department Narcotics Detective Joe Arp testified, as an expert on the drug trade, that the amount of methamphetamine Rivera had was not for personal use. A typical personal use amount of methamphetamine is 0.2 grams, so Rivera had over 100 doses with him at the time.
The jury found Rivera guilty. In the punishment phase, prosecutors presented evidence that Rivera had a lengthy criminal history, including a long history of selling drugs. On February 23, 2012, Rivera was convicted of four Collin County drug charges, all of which occurred on different dates. On two of those drug charges, Rivera received the maximum of 2 years in state jail for two offenses of possession of cocaine and possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Rivera received 8 years in prison for the other two charges, a third degree felony possession with intent to deliver cocaine and a second degree felony possession with intent to deliver cocaine.
On October 15, 2019, Rivera was sentenced to probation out of Dallas County for second degree felony possession of methamphetamine. But on November 10, 2019, Rivera violated his probation when he was again arrested for possession of a controlled substance. Rivera’s probation was revoked on February 21, 2020, and he was sentenced to three years in prison.
After hearing Rivera’s criminal history of seven felony convictions and considering the facts of the new offense, Judge Benjamin Smith sentenced Rivera to 40 years in prison.
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Jamin Daly and Wendy Correa prosecuted the case, assisted by District Attorney Investigators Sarah Putman, Jennifer Gomez, and Michael Bennett, and Legal Secretary Jaimie Valliere.
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