Illinois Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Uber Driver's Car

Topics:  Uber

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri
31 July 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Louis, MO – Robert W. Rives, 37, of New Baden, IL, pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence. Rives appeared today before U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel who accepted his plea and set his sentencing date for October 25, 2019.

According to the plea agreement, on October 3, 2018 in the City of St. Louis, Rives was a passenger in a Chevy Impala vehicle which had immediately turned in front of a Mitsubishi vehicle and stopped. Rives exited the passenger side and approached the driver of the Mitsubishi vehicle who was driving for UBER Eats making a delivery. He produced a firearm and demanded the driver to give him his vehicle. The victim complied and Rives then entered the victim’s Mitsubishi and drove off following the Impala. Numerous items in the stolen car included a Rock River AR-15 rifle and two handguns.

Later that day, Rives was arrested in the same type of vehicle he had stolen and officers recovered the AR-15 rifle and handguns.

Carjacking carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000; and the use of a firearm during a crime of violence carries a minimum penalty of five years and a fine of $250,000.

The Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating this case.