City police and federal agents raided a northeast Reading home and seized methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine, a large amount of cash and drug packaging and processing supplies, investigators said in court documents.
Early Tuesday, members of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s Harrisburg Resident Office and city vice and narcotics officers went to the residence in the 100 block of Spring Valley Road.
Richie A. Rivera Jr., 33, a resident of the home, was arrested and charged with three counts of possessing and intending to deliver a controlled substance and possessing a firearm while prohibited.
Rivera was committed to Berks County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail to await a hearing following arraignment Tuesday night before District Judge F. Richard Drumheiler in Reading Central Court.
According to court records:
Members of a DEA special response team served the warrant that Reading police obtained two days earlier. Team members in tactical gear knocked on the basement door multiple times before Rivera opened it. He was taken into custody without incident.
A woman and three children were also in the home before investigators began to search it for drugs and evidence of drug dealing.
The following were found in basement, where Rivera said he slept:
• Meth weighing a total 7.8 ounces.
• Fentanyl weighing 62 ounces.
• Cocaine weighing 26 ounces.
• Packaging material.
• Digital scales and drug-processing equipment, including a grinder and press.
• An unspecified large quantity of U.S. currency.
Police also seized a cellphone belonging to Rivera and documentation with his name on it, and a .40-caliber handgun
Rivera’s lengthy criminal record includes felony convictions, making him ineligible to possess a firearm, investigators said.
Information about the investigation that led police to obtain the search warrant and why the DEA was involved was unavailable.