Slaton contractor sorter who stole checks, mail sentenced in federal court

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix told a 22-year-old Slaton man on Tuesday that his cowardly actions threatened the lives and health of thousands of people when he stole thousands of pieces of mail at a sorting facility to support his drug addiction.

“You hurt a lot of people,” Hendrix told Joe Roy Rivas, before sentencing him to more than four years in prison. “The damage done is immeasurable.”

Rivas faced up to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty in December to a count of conspiracy to possess stolen mail.