DERBY — A federal grand jury has indicted a Cuban citizen on a charge of illegal reentry into the United States after he was apprehended by Border Patrol agents on a bike path in Derby in late April.
Yasser Rivera-Reyes, 42, with ties to Miami, was arrested April 24 after agents received alerts that a person had likely crossed into the United States from Canada at about 10 p.m. near the bike path in Derby, according to court records. Agents found Rivera-Reyes on the path wearing clothing and a backpack matching imagery obtained near the border.
Rivera-Reyes was identified as a Cuban citizen who had been ordered removed from the United States in 2017 while an inmate in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.
A search of his belongings turned up items indicating he had been living in Canada, including a Quebec driver’s license issued in September 2025, a Canadian bank debit card, a Canadian union membership certificate and receipts from April 2026 related to purchases at a business in Charlemagne, Quebec.
The grand jury returned the indictment May 7. Rivera-Reyes pleaded not guilty at an arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle and has been ordered detained pending trial.
He faces up to two years in prison if convicted. The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that the indictment contains allegations only and that Rivera-Reyes is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended the investigative work of the U.S. Border Patrol.
