John McCarthy
By JOHN McCARTHY / V.I. Free Press News Reporter
ST. CROIX — In August 2024, law enforcement officials proudly announced the arrest of Samuel Rivera Jr. and co-defendant I’Ko Matthias. The charges paints a picture of violent felony street crime: a February 2024 armed robbery in Christiansted where a victim was struck with a handgun and carjacked, followed six months later by a pre-dawn tactical raid in Strawberry Hill where officers seized a green-and-tan Glock 19X with an extended 31-round magazine from under Rivera’s sofa.
To the public, it appeared the justice system was removing repeat gun offenders from St. Croix’s roads.
To the court dockets, however, it was a prelude to an extraordinary judicial and prosecutorial bargain that wiped every single felony charge away—permanently.
The Anatomy of a Collapse
Superior Court records reveal that in April and May 2025, the V.I. Department of Justice quietly negotiated a sweeping “Global Plea Agreement”.
Instead of taking Rivera to trial on First-Degree Robbery, First-Degree Assault, or Unlicensed Possession of a Firearm during a Crime of Violence—charges carrying decades in prison—prosecutors agreed to drop the entire indictment.
The government’s price for total absolution? Two rifle bullets.
Under the terms signed by Assistant Attorneys General Kippy Roberson and Robert Pickett:
- The Plea: Rivera pled guilty to a single misdemeanor-level count of Unauthorized Possession of Ammunition (Title 14 V.I.C. § 2256(a)) for possessing two live rounds of .223 ammunition.
- The Dismissals: The Department of Justice dismissed ALL remaining charges in Case No.
SX-2024-CR-00268(the Glock 19X firearm raid) WITH PREJUDICE. - The Robbery Erased: The DOJ dismissed ALL counts in Case No.
SX-2024-CR-00261(the Christiansted armed robbery case involving victim Steven Matta II) WITH PREJUDICE. - Co-Defendants Cleared: The deal also forced the dismissal of all criminal charges against Rivera’s co-defendants—including I’Ko Matthias (
SX-2024-CR-00262through00265).
By attaching the legal modifier “with prejudice,” the government intentionally locked its own doors. Under double jeopardy protections, no prosecutor can ever refile those 2024 felony armed robbery or illegal weapon charges again.
The Judicial Signature
On June 16, 2025, Superior Court Judge Ernest E. Morris Jr. signed the final Judgment and Sentence incorporating the DOJ’s recommendation.
While trial judges hold explicit authority under Rule 11 of the Virgin Islands Rules of Criminal Procedure to reject plea deals that fail to protect public safety, the Superior Court accepted the bargain without modification. Rivera walked away from a multi-count violent felony prosecution without serving a day of post-conviction prison time.
Fourteen months after that sentence was entered, VIPD Officer Eustace Charles—an Executive Security Unit officer assigned to the Lieutenant Governor’s detail—was fatally ambushed in his vehicle in Williams Delight. In the chaos immediately following the officer’s death, police detained Rivera on Richmond road with an AM-15, only for him to flee custody from Juan F. Luis Hospital while in handcuffs.
Questions demanding Answers
When the public asks why violent crime repeats on St. Croix, the docket sequence of SX-2024-CR-00261 and SX-2024-CR-00268 provides an unambiguous look at the mechanics:
- Why did the Department of Justice drop a armed robbery case involving a pistol-whipped victim? Was there an evidentiary collapse, a failure of witness management, or simply a rush to dispose of mounting caseloads?
- Why did prosecutors trade an illegal handgun seizure down to two bullets?
- Why did the Superior Court accept a plea recommendation that granted total probation to an individual caught with an extended-mag weapon while awaiting trial on armed robbery?
Until the executive and judicial branches account for the decision to wipe those 2024 felony records clean, the “revolving door” isn’t a mystery—it is standard operating procedure.
