Man arrested in Soap Lake standoff armed with AR-22 rifle

The Grant County Sheriff's Department says a felon wanted in connection to a pursuit and crash that seriously injured a Moses Lake woman on December 9th was arrested Wednesday evening after barricading himself inside a Soap Lake area home.

Kyle Foreman with Grant County Sheriff's Office said U.S. Marshals, sheriff’s deputies and officers assigned to the U.S. Marshal’s Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force tracked 29-year-old Nicholas Romero Rivera to the home in the 20000 block of Road A-Northeast but Rivera refused to come out.  In a press release, Foreman said deputies asked for the Moses Lake Regional Tactical Response Team (TRT)  to assist based on Rivera's criminal history.   Rivera was persuaded by negotiators to surrender before the TRT arrived.  Foreman said Rivera was taken into custody without incident.

Detectives with the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team later served a search warrant on the home and seized an AR-22 rifle.

Rivera was wanted on charges of vehicular assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to elude for the pursuit incident on December 9th which ended with Rivera crashing his car near Roads N and 3-Northeast in Moses Lake. His passenger, a 22-year-old woman, suffered critical injuries.

“Rivera’s capture was the result of great teamwork by all the agencies involved,” said Sheriff Tom Jones.

Rivera is being held in the Grant County with bail set at $100,000.