Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Davion Rivers (27, Bradenton) guilty of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Rivers faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years, and up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has not been set yet. Rivers had been indicted on August 27, 2020.
According to testimony presented at trial, on August 10, 2020, law enforcement officers encountered Rivers when they responded to a call for service. Rivers yelled at the officers and pushed one of them. An officer saw that Rivers had a firearm in his pocket after the push. The officer tased Rivers and recovered the firearm from his pocket. The firearm was a Taurus Judge, a revolver that can fire shotgun shells, and which had five spent shell casings in the cylinder. Officers later secured a search warrant for Rivers’s phone and found that it contained a text message thread where Rivers had negotiated and agreed to buy the firearm.
As a previously convicted felon, Rivers is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under the law.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Bradenton Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Charlie D. Connally and David W.A. Chee.
This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.