Convicted Felon Receives Short Jail Sentence for Breaking Items at Ex-Girlfriend's House
Tuesday afternoon, John Boyd Rivers Jr., 26, was sentenced to 20 days in jail with credit for ten days time served following a no contest plea and conviction for misdemeanor property damage.
The incident occurred on March 5, 2024.
According to the arrest report, Rivers broke several items at ex-girlfriend’s house, including sliding glass door curtains, a glass table decoration and a front door jam.
Police took photos of the broken items for evidence.
Another individual in the house told police they heard Rivers damaging items and slamming the door but they weren’t an eye-witness.
Rivers has prior felony convictions from 2019 and 2020 for grand theft of a motor vehicle, drug possession and carrying a concealed weapon, netting him a prison sentence of nearly a year and a half.
According to the arrest report from his 2019 case, a Waldo resident told an officer he "needed to talk to Christopher, he has been stealing all the vehicles in Waldo." The complainant specified that Christopher and his brother stole a truck from Waldo.
Christopher and John Rivers were later found in possession of a stolen truck, two firearms and drugs.
The arrest report states, "Post Miranda, John advised that he had previously purchased both of the firearms in Waldo on the streets. He advised that he paid an unknown white male $180.00 at a park in Waldo for the Highpoint 9mm gun approximately 1 week ago. He says he purchased the .25 caliber Reims handgun last night from a 16 year old male known to him for $20.00. He admitted post Miranda that the orange pills were Suboxone and added that he traded 1.5 grams of marijuana to a dealer in Waldo for the pills. He does not have a prescription for it. I asked John how he came to be in possession of the stolen truck and he says he paid an unknown black male $100.00 for the truck at the park in Waldo on [September 15, 2019] at approximately [11:00 p.m.] John does not have a valid concealed weapon permit."
John Rivers was initially granted a pretrial diversion but it was revoked shortly before his 2020 arrest because he failed to comply with conditions.
According to the arrest report from his 2020 case, John Rivers was again found with a stolen vehicle along with a firearm. A few days after his booking, the owner of the stolen vehicle came into the police station with a backpack John Rivers left behind, which reportedly contained 305 boxes of cigarettes and 3.1 grams of THC oil.
In both the 2019 and 2020 cases, John Rivers was found without a valid driver's license.
John Rivers will be released from the Alachua County Jail soon following the completion of his sentence.
