GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Richard Tyrone Rivers, 54, was arrested yesterday after he allegedly exposed himself to a neighbor in Gainesville’s Westmoreland neighborhood.
According to a Gainesville Police Department officer, the incident occurred at about 1:11 p.m. on October 11, when the victim was walking in the 4000 block of NW 12th Avenue. Rivers allegedly called to her from his front porch, asked her to come over and said he wanted to show her something. After she declined to enter the home, he allegedly exposed his genitals.
After being read his Miranda rights, Rivers reportedly denied exposing himself and said he was only trying to “hit on the lady.” The officer said Rivers then demonstrated what he had done by reaching into his pants and exposing himself to the officer.
Rivers faces a charge of indecent exposure. His criminal record includes five felony convictions, three of them violent, and 17 misdemeanor convictions, including one violent offense. He has served one state prison sentence and was released in 1998.
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Following his previous arrest in 2017, Rivers was found incompetent to proceed because of “unspecified schizophrenia and related disorder” and was committed to a state mental hospital. The charges were dismissed in 2023 after five years had passed without a competency determination. A court document identifies the residence where Rivers was arrested yesterday as the home of a family member.
Judge Lua Lepianka set bail at $15,000.