Arrest made in Lynn pizza driver robbery

LYNN – Police have made an arrest in one of several robberies that terrified fast food delivery drivers last month.William Rivera, 23, of 454 Essex St., Lynn, who also provided police a Manchester, N.H. address, was arrested Monday and charged with armed robbery.Police have only charged him with the robbery of a Fauci Pizza driver that occurred at 17 Linden St. on Dec. 27. Two men were allegedly sitting on a staircase when a third ran up from behind and placed a silver handgun to the driver’s neck, saying, “Give me your money. Give me your cell phone.”According to a police report, detectives and Gang Unit officers closed in on Rivera after the victim said one of the suspects referred to the other as “Fleazy.” The officers were familiar with Rivera, who is allegedly an admitted Deuce Boyz-Soldiers gang member who was arrested by the Gang Unit in June for selling crack cocaine on Green Street.Rivera was arrested after the victim positively identified him in a photo line up, police said. He was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Tuesday in Lynn District Court.In late December, police issued a warning to local food delivery drivers after four robberies occurred in the same manner in two weeks.Police said the Linden Street robbery was likely connected to the other three, but on Wednesday it appeared detectives did not have enough evidence to charge Rivera with those.Police in December directly linked the Linden Street robbery to one that occurred Christmas Day on Lyman Street.”The same circumstances were present. One suspect was on the stairs when another emerged from a concealed position,” police spokesman Lt. William Sharpe said last month. “The suspect description was similar for both robberies.”On Christmas Eve at 11:30 p.m., a Chinese food driver was robbed by two men on Johnson’s Terrace, a dark alley off Essex Street.Anita Brown of Lynn is the wife of the driver and was waiting in the car when he was robbed.”They stuck a shotgun right in his face,” Brown said.A fourth robbery was reported Dec. 21 on Alice Avenue, when a driver was robbed by two men who stuck a double-barrel shotgun in his face before stealing money and a cell phone.