Deon Ray Rivers was a church pastor who sexually assaulted a minor for years. After having been threatened by Mr. Rivers to not report the abuse, she gained the courage to report the crimes to law enforcement. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted Mr. Rivers.
On February 2, 2021, Deon Ray Rivers (Age 57 of San Bernardino) was sentenced to 15 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a minor from 2016 to 2018.
In 2016, the 13-year-old victim and her family met Deon Ray Rivers (Age 54 at the time) through their church in Pasadena. Mr. Rivers was the assistant pastor of the church and eventually took over as the pastor. He used his position in the church to groom both the victim and her family into trusting him, assuming a father-figure role in the victim’s life and even taking the title as her godfather.
During an occasion when the victim was at Mr. Rivers residence, he forced her to orally copulate him. For the next two years, he continued to sexually assault the victim, using force and a perversion of religious beliefs to commit the crimes.
In 2018, the victim attempted to separate from Mr. Rivers, however; Mr. Rivers responded by physically assaulting the victim. He told her he knew influential people who would protect him, and would retaliate against her should she report what he had done to her.
Eventually, the victim reported the crime to law enforcement, who conducted an investigation. The case was submitted to our office for prosecution, which took place in 2020. On December 18, 2020, Mr. Rivers pled guilty to forcible rape of a child over 14-years-of-age, and forcible sodomy of a victim 14-years of age or over.
On February 2, 2021, justice was served when Mr. Rivers was formally sentenced to prison.
CASE INFORMATION
DA Case Number: 2020-00-0025082
Court Case Numbers: FSB20001379
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