Letter from United States re Eric Rivera — Letter from United States re Eric Rivera — USA v. Rivera et al. (Dkt. 30)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey · No. 1:24-cr-00267-KMW · Doc. 30 · 2024-05-30 · Docket on CourtListener

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U.S. Department of Justice 
United States Attorney 
District of New Jersey 
 
 
 
PHILIP R. SELLINGER 
                                                                                401 Market Street, Fourth Floor  
United States Attorney                               
                                                                                Camden, New Jersey 08101-2098 
 
                                                            
                   
DANIEL A. FRIEDMAN 
                                                                                Direct Dial: 856.968.4867                    
Assistant United States Attorney 
                                                                                Email:  Daniel.friedman2@usdoj.gov 
 
 
 
May 30, 2024 
 
Honorable Elizabeth A. Pascal 
United States Magistrate Judge 
Mitchell H. Cohen Federal Courthouse 
One John F. Gerry Plaza, Fourth & Cooper Streets 
Camden, New Jersey 08101 
 
 
Re: 
United States v. Eric Rivera, et al. Crim. No. 24-267 (KMW) 
 
Dear Judge Pascal: 
 
 
Defendants Eric Rivera, Adrienne Ponzo, and James Wessels were indicted on 
April 17, 2024.  On April 23, 2024, this Court conducted an arraignment of Eric Rivera.  
At the conclusion of the arraignment, the Court issued the following order: 
 
TEXT ORDER: Having conducted an arraignment with Defendant Eric 
Rivera, and the Court noting that Pretrial Services has not received 
verification of employment from Defendant since July 21, 2023, as required 
by his conditions of release, the Court ORDERS Defendant to submit 
verification of employment to Pretrial Services no later than April 30, 2024. 
In addition, Defendant having notified the Court that he has retained private 
counsel, private counsel shall enter his appearance on the docket no later 
than May 7, 2024. So Ordered by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Pascal on 
4/24/2024. 
 
ECF No. 27.   
 
Rivera has not complied with the deadline ordered by the Court.  Private counsel 
has not entered an appearance on the docket, and on May 30, 2024, Rivera’s anticipated 
private counsel communicated to the undersigned that they had not yet been retained by 
Rivera.1 
 
1 On May 30, 2024, Rivera’s Pretrial Services officer advised the undersigned that Rivera 
had not yet provided satisfactory verification of employment to Pretrial Services.  
Pretrial Services has given Rivera a new deadline of June 3, 2024 to provide the 
necessary materials. 
Case 1:24-cr-00267-KMW     Document 30     Filed 05/30/24     Page 1 of 2 PageID: 232

 
2
 
In addition, the scheduling order agreed to by the parties and signed by Judge 
Williams required each defendant to provide hard drives capable of receiving discovery to 
the Government on or before May 8, 2024.  ECF No. 29.  Neither Rivera nor his counsel 
of record has provided hard drives to the Government; accordingly, the Government has 
been unable to provide discovery to Rivera. 
 
The Government respectfully requests the Court set a status conference to address 
these issues. 
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PHILIP R. SELLINGER 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
United States Attorney 
 
 
/s/ Daniel A. Friedman  
 
By:  
DANIEL A. FRIEDMAN 
 
JASON M. RICHARDSON 
Assistant U.S. Attorneys 
 
cc:  
Thomas Burke, Esq. (Via ECF) 
Nicholas Zotti, U.S. Pretrial Services Officer (Via Email) 
 
 
Case 1:24-cr-00267-KMW     Document 30     Filed 05/30/24     Page 2 of 2 PageID: 233

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