A Bradenton man has been sentenced to seven years in prison after what prosecutors describe as a terrifying campaign of domestic violence that included grabbing his girlfriend’s 1-month-old kitten and flinging it off a fourth-floor apartment balcony into traffic.
Prosecutors say that episode was only one part of a pattern in which Daniel Rivera repeatedly attacked the woman, pointed a pistol at her, smashed her phone and later pushed her to back off the criminal case. The convictions, which include both animal cruelty and violent-offense counts, led a judge to impose a multi-year state prison term last Thursday.
Convictions and sentence
According to the Bradenton Herald, Rivera, 23, was convicted of criminal mischief, cruelty to animals, felony battery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and tampering with a witness. The judge ordered him to serve seven years behind bars.
The Herald reports that the sentence followed testimony and records presented by prosecutors, who built the case with the Bradenton Police Department and the Twelfth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office. Together, investigators walked the court through a sequence of violence against the victim that culminated in the animal cruelty charge and the witness-tampering count.
What court records show
Court dockets list Rivera under case number 2025CF001629AX for a cruelty-to-animals charge tied to an incident in early June 2025, according to Manatee County court records. The clerk’s records connect the cruelty charge to a June 3, 2025 filing and show that Rivera was convicted on May 7, 2026…