Rivera Sentenced in 2012 Sex Assault on 14/yo Girl

Yuma County Jail Booking Photo
Jose Carmen Rivera-Leija

On August 1^st Jose Carmen Rivera-Leija was sentenced in the 2012 forcible sexual assault of a then 14-year-old girl that occurred at a party in Yuma County.  After spending 3 years and 19 days evading capture, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office apprehended Rivera in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on July 20^th, 2015.  Rivera’s capture was the product of the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office’s participation as a member of the US Marshals Colorado Violent Offender Task Force, which they joined in September of 2014.

Rivera accepted a plea agreement offered to him by the 13^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in which he plead guilty to the charges of Attempted Sexual Assault on a Child and 2^nd Degree Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury.  The court sentenced Rivera on Monday to serve 10 years imprisonment in the Colorado Department of Corrections, as well as a lifetime requirement to register as a sexual offender.

To see the original press release about Rivera’s capture in 2015 click the following link: http://www.yumacountysheriff.net/fugitive-captured-in-oklahoma-on-the-run-for-three-years/