A local Trumper landed back behinds bars after violating his federal wire fraud probation.
Robert Rivernider Jr., 59, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the home of his dead father at Continental Country Club in Wildwood. He was sought on a warrant issued through the U.S. Marshal’s Office. He was booked without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center.
Rivernider, once a top official in the Villagers for Trump group and a key campaign coordinator for failed Congressional candidate Laura Loomer, was sentenced in 2024 to 180 days in jail after he was found guilty by a Sumter County jury on charges of fraud and forgery. Rivernider was convicted of signing a vote-by-mail ballot for his father, Robert Rivernider Sr., according to an elections fraud complaint from Sumter County Supervisor of Elections William Keen. The senior Rivernider died on Oct. 19, 2020.
“By filling out the mail-in ballot for his father, the Defendant intended to defraud or injure the State by voting for someone who was no longer alive,” said Assistant State Attorney Joseph Church at the time of the trial.
At the time, Rivernider was on federal probation for a 2013 conspiracy and wire fraud conviction. He won a “compassionate release” from federal prison during the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed his father’s life.
The federal conviction came after Rivernider, who had been working with other partners, coaxed millions of dollars from investors who were lured into fraudulent investment schemes. The investors used money borrowed against their homes or from 401k accounts.
More recently, Rivernider has tried to rebrand himself on social media as “Bob River,” and has collected thousands of online “friends.”