A Falls Township man who kidnapped, drugged and killed his mother on her birthday last April has accepted a plea deal in which he will be sentenced to life in prison in order to escape the death penalty, authorities say.
Sean Rivera, 28, of Berwyn Road, accepted the plea deal after waiving his right to a preliminary hearing at an appearance in Falls Twp District Court on Tuesday, authorities said.
The plea deal enables Rivera to plead guilty to the five felony charges he was charged with. He will serve a life sentence without parole in exchange for the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office not seeking the death penalty, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.
Court records show he drugged his mother’s ice tea with Fentanyl and then took her to a shed in Frankford where he shot and killed her on her birthday.
Rivera told police that he gave his mother the takeout Chinese food with iced tea that had Fentanyl in it. Rivera told police that he previously purchased the drug specifically to give to his mother.
The investigation concluded that Rivera diluted fentanyl in his mother’s iced tea sometime Saturday night. With his mother in a conscious but lethargic state, he placed her in her vehicle and drove her to the shed in the 4300 block of Walnut Street in Philadelphia sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. Sunday.
There, he used the bolt cutters to cut off any padlocks, placed his mother inside and then shot her multiple times. He then closed the shed and locked it with one of the padlocks he had purchased. The shed was opened with a key recovered from the defendant, authorities said.
If Rivera breaks his agreement with prosecutors, the information he provided detectives could be admitted as evidence at trial, according to the Courier report.
The details as why Rivera murdered his mother are largely unknown. Rivera’s next appearance in court is scheduled for October 27 for his formal arraignment.
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