A 36-year-old McAllen resident has been charged with arson and possession of a destructive device, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Daniel Eduardo Rivera is expected to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker at 9:00 a.m.
According to the criminal complaint, Rivera has allegedly been targeting an individual since 2022 by setting multiple fires to the victim’s residence and vehicles.
The charges alleged that in November 2022, at approximately 2:03 a.m., fire department officials responded to the victim’s residence due to a fire coming from a storage shed. They extinguished it, but authorities later determined it to be incendiary in nature, according to the complaint.
At approximately 1:10 p.m. that same day, the fire department was allegedly dispatched to the victim’s house for a second time, and they discovered the porch to be fully engulfed with fire seeping into the home.
The charges alleged they were again able to extinguish it, but not before it had caused significant damage to the home. They also found a Molotov cocktail at the scene, according to the complaint.
According to the victim, Rivera had allegedly confronted him and threatened to kill his family at night and burn the victim’s house down.
The complaint further alleged that in May 2024, fire officials responded to a vehicle fire in McAllen. It has already been extinguished, but authorities allegedly determined another Molotov cocktail was used in an attempt to set the car ablaze.
The investigation links Rivera to that incident, according to the charges.
If convicted, Rivera faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the arson and a maximum of 10 for possession of a destructive device.
