Former Puerto Rico Officer Charged with Stealing Firearms from Agency

A federal grand jury Wednesday returned an eight-count indictment charging former Puerto Rico Police Bureau Officer William Cintrón Rivera with the theft of 54 guns from his agency.

Cintrón Rivera was also charged with tampering with multiple witnesses, by requesting that they provide false information to federal investigators. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is in charge of the investigation of the case.

According to the indictment, on July 17, 2019, Cintrón Rivera stole the firearms and thousands of rounds of ammo from the Puerto Rico Police Bureau's Guayama headquarters when he was still with the agency. The Department of Justice says in a press release that Cintrón Rivera also attempted to "intimidate and corruptly persuade" witnesses into providing false information to federal investigators relevant to the theft, such as Cintrón Rivera’s whereabouts on the night of the crime.

If convicted, Cintron-Rivera faces up to 10 years in prison for each firearms count, and 20 years for each witness-tampering count.