Four Defendants Plead Guilty After Taking Part in
Gang Assault Which Resulted in Stabbing

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Friday, October 5, 2018, Joemy Rivera, 24, of Middletown, pled guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to Gang Assault in the Second Degree, in connection with a gang assault and stabbing that took place on March 25, 2018. At the time that he pled guilty, Rivera admitted going with three other individuals to the victim’s girlfriend’s house in Middletown with the intention of assaulting the victim. Rivera admitted that he was being aided in the assault by three other defendants and that he stabbed the victim multiple times in the back with a knife. Prosecutors argued that the victim suffered serious physical injuries, including a lacerated kidney and a punctured lung, which required the victim to be rushed by ambulance to the intensive care unit of Orange Regional Medical Center. Pursuant to a plea agreement placed on the record at the time that Rivera pled guilty, he will be sentenced to eight years in prison and five years post-release supervision when he is sentenced on November 5, 2018.

On September 27, 2018, three other defendants pled guilty before Judge Brown in connection with the attack. Kayla Curry, 17, of Middletown, pled guilty to Gang Assault in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree. Miguel Irizarry, 24, of Middletown, pled guilty to Assault in the Third Degree. At the time that they pled guilty, Curry and Irizarry each admitted to accompanying Rivera to assault the victim and to aiding Rivera in the assault. Christian Reyes, 23, of Middletown, who prosecutors had argued drove the other defendants to where the stabbing took place, pled guilty to Attempted Assault in the Second Degree. At the time that Reyes pled guilty, he admitted that approximately an hour and half before the stabbing he had been driving a car in the vicinity of Fulton Street and East Avenue in Middletown when he saw the victim walking. Reyes admitted attempting to injure the victim by attempting to strike him with the car. Prosecutors argued that after Reyes’s unsuccessful attempt to run over the victim, he and the other defendants met and agreed to confront and assault the victim at his girlfriend’s house. Curry, Irizzary, and Reyes are scheduled to be sentenced on January 14, 2019.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Middletown Police Department for their investigation of the case and for the defendants’ arrests.

“My office will seek lengthy prison sentences for those who resort to weapons and violence to settle disputes,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “The decision of one of these defendants to stab the unarmed victim with a knife could easily have led to the loss of life. Obviously, the likelihood of killing increases dramatically when a person chooses to use a weapon. Similarly, the likelihood of serious physical injury or death also increases when assailants band together.”

This case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Maryellen Albanese.

A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.