An Ojo Caliente man who allegedly had his son close his property gate to trap his neighbor so he could shoot at him, pleaded no contest to shooting at a vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon, with a plea deal that set his sentence at four years of supervised probation.
Anthony Rivera, 54, had been held without bail since his arrest on May 18, after prosecutors petitioned a judge to have him held as a danger to the community. District Judge Jason Lidyard found he was a danger following two days of hearings on June 4 and 5.
According to the plea deal signed by prosecutor Kathryn McEnery, Rivera admitted he’s been convicted of felonies before, which could allow a judge to use his habitual offender status to increase his sentence were he to violate his supervised probation.
District Judge Anastasia Martin signed off on the plea deal for 4.5 years of supervised probation on Aug. 8. Rivera was released following the plea hearing. The judgment and sentence was filed on Aug. 26.
New Mexico State Police Officer Ashlea Lujan wrote in a criminal complaint that Rivera came to the State Police office on May 18 to complain about his neighbor driving through his gate as Rivera shot at him.
The victim, Richard Marquez, 55, told Lujan that Rivera was on his property the day of the shooting and he told him to stay off. His neighbor is often “scoping out” his property. Marquez then decided to go to Rivera’s property to confront him, driving through an open gate, to tell him to stay off his property.
Rivera then had his son close the gate behind Marquez, went into his house and came out holding a pistol and as Marquez tried to drive away, plowing through the closed gate, Rivera shot at him, hitting his car at least once.
Rivera was initially charged with kidnapping, which prosecutors downgraded to false imprisonment, before the charge was dropped entirely.
New drug case
A few weeks after pleading guilty, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Dominic Lopez filed a charge of possession of a controlled substance against Rivera, on Sept. 9 in magistrate court, for an incident on Aug. 15.
Deputies were called out for a report of a man running in and out of the highway.
While dealing with that call, Rivera allegedly drove past deputies, yelling at them, and driving in the wrong lane, before driving to his house as deputies chased him.
At the scene, they realized Rivera had a warrant for his arrest out of Santa Fe, even though he had been just released from jail. While searching him, they found what they believed to be drugs.
Neither prosecutors nor probation officers have filed anything to revoke his probation, which include not committing new crimes or getting arrested and not buying, selling, consuming or possessing illegal drugs.