Erie cocaine ringleader convicted in case also involving his mother

Miguel A. Pabon Rivera, 30, topped the federal indictment accusing 25 defendants of dealing large amounts of cocaine, meth and fentanyl in 2020-2022. His mother and her boyfriend were minor defendants.

Miguel A. Pabon Rivera was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in a cocaine smuggling operation that shipped drugs from Puerto Rico to Erie.
Rivera’s mother and her longtime boyfriend were also charged in the case and received lighter sentences after pleading guilty to lesser charges
The FBI says the ring trafficked as much as 220 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $3.2 million and that Rivera laundered cash using ATMs

The conviction of a 30-year-old Erie resident in a massive Erie drug case has ended a family affair in U.S. District Court in Erie.

The defendant, Miguel A. Pabon Rivera, was sentenced to six years in prison and four years of supervised release for heading a ring that the government said stole as much as 220 pounds of cocaine worth as much as $3.2 million from Puerto Rico shipped to Puerto Rico. Erie from January 2020 to May 2022. He must also forfeit $45,100 in cash.

Pabon Rivera did not act alone. A federal grand jury indicted 24 other defendants in the case in May 2022, including his mother and her longtime boyfriend.

Rivera’s familial relationship with the defendants came up during his sentencing Tuesday, when an assistant U.S. attorney, Molly Anglin, outlined his role in the cocaine operation.

The overall investigation also led to other defendants being charged with trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl. About half of the 25 defendants have pleaded guilty and been convicted.

After pleading guilty in May, Rivera was sentenced to a misdemeanor count of trafficking more than 5 kilos of cocaine and a misdemeanor count of money laundering.

Rivera’s mother, Maria Del Pilar Rivera, who was listed seventh in the indictment, was sentenced in August to three years of probation. Her longtime boyfriend, Enrique Cotto, ranked sixth, was sentenced to prison, also in August. Maria Rivera and Cotto both pleaded guilty to a smaller number of cocaine trafficking counts, according to court records.

A drug operation traced to Costa Rica

The ultimate source of the cocaine was Costa Rica, with Puerto Rico serving as the shipping point for the drugs to leave for the United States and Erie in the U.S. mail, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The government said wiretapped phone calls showed Miguel Rivera helped arrange the shipments, and that he and others used area street gangs to sell the drugs to customers in Erie.

Miguel Rivera’s family was connected to the case through the mail.

Some of the cocaine-filled packages addressed to Miguel Rivera were delivered to Maria Rivera’s home in Erie, which her attorney said was the extent of her role in the drug ring. According to the defense’s sentencing memorandum in her case, her involvement “stemmed entirely from the criminal conduct of her family members.”

Cotto presented the same argument.

“Mr. Cotto was also very uncomfortable with the entire operation, but against his better judgment wanted to comply with the wishes of Miguel Rivera due to the close personal relationship he had with his mother,” according to the defense’s sentencing memo in his case.

Miguel Rivera apologized to his family as he was sentenced Tuesday. Rivera, a Spanish-speaking resident of Puerto Rico, addressed the judge with the help of an interpreter.

“I will learn from this and make much better decisions,” Rivera said.

The drug gang’s second-in-command has also been convicted

The six-year sentence was what the defense and the U.S. Attorney’s Office recommended as part of the guilty plea for Rivera, who had no criminal record. He faced a mandatory minimum term of five years for the drug count and up to 20 years for the money laundering charges. Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a term of 70 to 87 months — a range that included Rivera’s 72-month sentence.

Pittsburgh-based U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan accepted the recommendation of the defense and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in sentencing Miguel Rivera at the federal courthouse in Erie. She filled in for Erie-based U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, who was assigned the cases.

Horan accepted another recommendation from the defense and the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday as she convicted Rivera’s co-defendant Eric Suarez Robles. Horan gave him six years in prison and four years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $45,900.

Robles, 44, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty in May to the same charges addressed in Miguel Rivera’s plea deal. Robles was listed in the indictment as second highest. He was accused of distributing and storing the cocaine in Erie.

Robles was also accused of laundering drug money with Rivera. An IRS investigation found the two hid more than $422,000 in bank accounts and transferred money to Orlando, court records show.

“The account activity” of Rivera and Robles, according to a government memo, “usually involved cash deposits of a certain amount at an ATM in Ohio, followed by a withdrawal within a few days or hours from an ATM in Orlando, Florida.”

Robles also had no previous record. In Spanish, with the help of a translator, he apologized to his family as he was sentenced.

Contact Ed Palattella at [email protected] or 814-870-1813. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

Erie cocaine ringleader convicted in case also involving his mother

Miguel A. Pabon Rivera, 30, topped the federal indictment accusing 25 defendants of dealing large amounts of cocaine, meth and fentanyl in 2020-2022. His mother and her boyfriend were minor defendants.

A drug operation traced to Costa Rica

The drug gang’s second-in-command has also been convicted

By Sheisoe

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Erie cocaine ringleader convicted in case also involving his mother

Miguel A. Pabon Rivera, 30, topped the federal indictment accusing 25 defendants of dealing large amounts of cocaine, meth and fentanyl in 2020-2022. His mother and her boyfriend were minor defendants.

A drug operation traced to Costa Rica

The drug gang’s second-in-command has also been convicted

By Sheisoe

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