A Miami-Dade family says they are still reeling after the man who abducted their 6-year-old son in northwest Miami-Dade agreed to a plea deal that will put him in state prison for only three years. The boy, Jake Rivera, was taken from outside his home in late 2024 and later found safe after his older brother raced out and pulled him away from the suspect. The defendant pleaded guilty to kidnapping and interference with custody and will be under probation for 10 years after he finishes his prison time.
The plea and sentence
On Friday, the defendant accepted a deal that calls for a three-year state prison sentence followed by a decade of probation, according to NBC 6 South Florida. In a close-out memo provided to the station, Assistant State Attorney Lily Wisset wrote that prosecutors offered the plea because they expected “significant challenges in proving” key kidnapping elements, including whether the defendant forcibly or secretly took the child or intended to commit a felony or terrorize him.
The memo also notes that a psychosexual evaluation found the defendant did not display sexual interest in children. The court ordered mental-health and substance-abuse evaluations and mandated treatment if needed. Prosecutors framed the deal as an attempt to lock in a conviction and supervision within the limits of what they believed a jury was likely to find beyond a reasonable doubt.
How the abduction unfolded
Surveillance video and police reports show the man approaching then-6-year-old Jake outside his home in the 1300 block of Northwest 79th Street, casually joining him to kick a soccer ball around. Investigators say he then offered to buy the boy a toy to win his trust and walked him away from the neighborhood.
The two went to a Family Dollar at 2151 NW 79th St. When Jake’s older brother realized the child was missing, he and a family friend set out to search for him, eventually spotting the pair more than a mile away and pulling Jake back to safety. CBS Miami reported the original arrest details and timeline of the incident.
Why prosecutors say they offered the deal
In court and in the close-out memo, prosecutors said they were worried about hitting the legal bar for a kidnapping conviction under Florida law. The state would have had to prove that the defendant “forcibly or secretly” took the child, or that he acted with one of several specific intents spelled out in the statute, such as committing a felony or terrorizing the victim…