A Riverdale Park, Maryland, Councilman was found guilty of assaulting a homeless man in June, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks announced Wednesday.
On June 17, Raymond Rivas saw the victim leaning on a fence in the parking lot of the Park Tanglewood Apartment Complex, where Rivas is the property manager, prosecutors said. The two had encountered each other before, but this time Rivas used a bat to repeatedly hit the victim.
When the victim fled, Rivas followed him in a car, prosecutors said. Rivas got out of the car, pointed a handgun at the victim’s head, then fired a shot at the ground, and the victim fled again and reported the incident to police.
“It is shocking that a person in Mr. Rivas’ positions as both a property manager and a town councilman would act so irresponsibly,” Alsobrooks said. “There is absolutely no excuse to intimidate any member of the community including the homeless.”
In addition to first- and second-degree assault, Rivas was convicted of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence and related charges.
Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 23. Rivas faces 50 years in prison with a mandatory five for the handgun conviction.
