On May 18, 2019, at about 0843 hours, a female came to Newark PD to report a sexual assault.  The victim reported that an acquaintance unlawfully entered her apartment on O’Daniel Ave and physically and sexually assaulted her.  The Criminal Investigations Division immediately began an investigation.

The victim reported that when she woke-up in the morning on May 18th, an acquaintance whom she identified as Luis Rivera, 27, of Penns Grove, NJ, was inside her apartment.  She did not let him into the apartment and he had no reason to be there.  Rivera became angry with the victim when he tried to speak with her and began to choke her with his hands.  He then proceeded to sexually assault her.  She was able to free herself from Rivera and fled to Newark Police Headquarters.

The victim was treated at an area hospital for minor injuries and was released.

On May 21, 2019, Detectives located Rivera in Middletown, DE where he was taken into custody without incident.  Rivera appeared before Justice of the Peace Court #2 where he was charged with Rape First Degree and Strangulation.  Rivera was ordered held on $55,000 cash bail.  His custody was transferred to the Howard R Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington.

On May 16, 2019 at about 11:45pm, the Newark Police Department responded to Pizza Hut located at 250 College Square in Newark for report of a Robbery. The two victims who were employees, reported that a black male approximately 25-35 years old, 5’8”-5’9”, with a medium build, wearing a gray zip-up hoody, black cargo shorts, black sneakers, and a black baseball hat entered the store and displayed what appeared to be a handgun while demanding money from the business. The suspect obtained an undisclosed amount of cash, fled the business on foot and was last seen in the rear alley of College Square.

There is currently no video surveillance or vehicles linked to the incident at this time.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Detective D. Bystricky at (302) 366-7100 x. 3136 or dbystricky@newark.de.us.

Additional methods of providing information to the police may be found on our tips page, where reward information may also be available.