Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Nadia I. Shihata announced Thursday, May 20, that a NYC Department of Correction Officer was charged for allegedly accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for delivering documents that he believed were soaked with narcotics to an inmate at Rikers Island.

 

Clark said the defendant, Eric Rivera, 54, was arraigned on May 20, on second-degree bribe receiving, third-degree bribe receiving, official misconduct and second-degree promoting prison contraband before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Jay Young Kim. He is due back in court in July.

 

“Documents soaked in dangerous narcotics such as K2 and fentanyl threaten the safety of inmates and staff,” Clark said. “This defendant allegedly received money to bring in papers treated with drugs, ignoring the hazard of such contraband, and putting lives at risk.”

 

According to the investigation, on two occasions between June 1, 2025, and Sept. 15, 2025, Rivera accepted bribes in excess of $5,000 in exchange for bringing documents purported to be soaked in narcotics onto Rikers Island which he subsequently gave to an inmate.

Shihata said correction officers take an oath to uphold the law and have a responsibility to safeguard people in their care. “Instead, as charged, this defendant betrayed that oath by allegedly accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle contraband, specifically papers purported to be soaked in narcotics, into Rikers Island facilities, endangering both persons in custody and his fellow officers,” she said. “I thank the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for its continued partnership and commitment to ensuring safety in the City’s jails.”

 

Rivera is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christian Commelin of the Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Cassie Perez, supervisor of the Public Integrity Bureau, Sarah Clements, deputy chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and Jon Veiga, chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the Investigations Division and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of the Investigations Division.

 

Clark thanked Trial Preparation Assistant Ivan Reyes for his assistance with the case, as well as NYPD Detectives Sandy Nunez, Daniel Angen, and Jennifer Cordero from the Bronx District Attorney’s Squad, under the supervision of Sergeant Louis Meade, for their work on the investigation.

 

She also thanked the department of investigation’s office of the Inspector General for DOC, Correction Officer Investigator Brian Hilario, under the supervision of Assistant Inspector General Sasha Holguin, Deputy Inspector General Sony Fortune, and Inspector General Marissa Carro.