‘One-Man Crime Wave' Sentenced for String of Break-Ins

Gilberto Rivera was sentenced Thursday after he pleaded guilty to 23 counts connected to break-ins he committed at 10 homes and cars

A Hampden Superior Court judge in Massachusetts called a 38-year-old burglar a "one-man crime wave" before sentencing him to serve between nine and 12 years in prison for multiple offenses.

The Republican newspaper reports Gilberto Rivera was sentenced Thursday after he pleaded guilty to 23 counts connected to break-ins he committed at 10 homes and cars in Holyoke.

Assistant District Attorney Maida Wassermann says Rivera's crimes occurred between September and December 2013.

Prosecutors say Rivera assaulted an 81-year-old woman and a woman in her 90s during the break-ins. Wassermann says another victim Rivera targeted was a blind man.

The former upstate New York man was arrested in Albany after he fled the Holyoke area.

Defense attorney Nicholas Horgan says Rivera was born in Puerto Rico and suffered through an abusive childhood.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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