A Beach Park man is being held in Lake County Jail after allegedly taking the mother of his child hostage under threats of violence while holding a knife, then killing a dog, authorities said.
Adrian Rivera, 40, of the 10400 block of West Crissy Avenue, Beach Park, is facing class two felony charges of aggravated domestic battery involving strangulation and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon following the incident Sunday, said Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
Rivera is also charged with a class three felony count of failure by a sexual offender to report a change of address, class four felony charges of unlawful restraint and aggravated animal cruelty, and misdemeanor counts of unlawful use of a weapon, domestic battery, and child endangerment.
Covelli said deputies were called to the 13000 block of West 28th Place in Wadsworth for a report of a woman being held hostage at about 8:45 a.m. Sunday.
Lake County Sheriff’s 911 Emergency Telecommunicators obtained important information that a female victim was being held hostage and that Rivera forced the victim to drive to Wadsworth to pick up a young child who was being kept safe at the Wadsworth address.
Rivera was armed with a knife and forced the victim back into the vehicle with the child, then forced the victim to drive away, Covelli said.
Sheriff’s 911 telecommunicators also obtained the vehicle description, the license plate number, and the direction the vehicle was last seen traveling, Covelli said.
They relayed all this information to responding sheriff’s deputies who located the vehicle in the area of Lewis Avenue and Wadsworth Road in Beach Park, Covelli said.
Covelli said deputies conducted a high-risk traffic stop where Rivera was taken into custody, releasing the woman and child victim.
Additional investigation revealed that before taking the woman victim hostage, he battered her at the Beach Park residence where the two live, Covelli said.
After battering her, he went to retrieve his firearm, but he was unable to locate it, Covelli said.
Instead, Rivera armed himself with a knife and forced the victim to drive to where the child was being hidden to be kept safe away from Rivera, Covelli said.
Rivera threatened to kill the victim and her family if she did not comply, Covelli said.
When the victim arrived at the Wadsworth location, she informed her family she was being held against her will and that Rivera was armed with a knife.
The family, in turn, called 911 and provided the information to sheriff’s 911 telecommunicators.
Sheriff’s deputies also learned Rivera bludgeoned the victim’s dog to death and placed the remains in a cooler.
Sheriff’s deputies located the deceased dog, the bludgeon, and two firearms belonging to Rivera.
After reviewing the facts and circumstances of the incident, Covelli said the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office approved the charges against Rivera.
Additional charges are possible pending the outcome of the investigation, Covelli said.
“Our 911 emergency telecommunicators operate at an extremely high level every day,” said Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg. “Our 911 emergency telecommunicators were able to obtain very important information and relay the information at lightning speed, allowing our deputies to locate and rescue the kidnapping victims. If it were not for the high level of skill and collaboration between our 911 center and responding deputies, this violent man may have done more serious harm to the victims.”
Rivera appeared in Lake County court Monday morning and was ordered held by Lake County Judge Raymond Collins until Thursday for a detention hearing.