Rivera testified that he had been raised in the same town as the defendant's father and that, over the years, their families had shared dwellings in Florida and New Jersey.
He said that while he was fixing breakfast on Jan. 6, 1985, at the Basillo mushroom camp, a man wearing a nylon stocking over his face placed an automatic pistol to his head and threatened to kill him.
Rivera, who said he had recognized Negron's face and voice, testified that he called the assailant "Junior" and said to him, "Don't do that. You and I are like father and son."
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Sarcione said Negron bound and gagged Rivera before stealing the money and his car. The money was never recovered, he said.
The police charged Negron after they went to his house in Kennett Square, where they found $7,800 in his wife's purse and a blanket matching the material used to gag Rivera. Attorneys for both sides later concurred that the money was part of an insurance settlement the Negrons had received when their young daughter died in November 1984.
The jury convicted Negron on all counts, including robbery, burglary, theft and receiving stolen property. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
