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FDNY EMS capt. arrested for alleged child molestation

The 21-year veteran was arrested on a child sex crime warrant for a Sept. 12 incident in Hollywood; he’s been suspended without pay for 30 days pending charges

By Will James
Newsday

NEW YORK — An FDNY captain from Bay Shore has been arrested on a felony warrant out of Los Angeles for sexual crimes against children.

Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Officer II Nuria Vanegas said Saturday Wilbert Riera, 51, was wanted for a Sept. 12 incident in Hollywood.

Vanegas said agents from an FBI task force arrested Riera on Friday in Staten Island. An NYPD spokesman said Riera was in police custody.

An FDNY spokesman said the 21-year veteran works on Staten Island and is assigned to the department’s emergency medical service. He said Riera has been suspended for 30 days without pay, the maximum permitted under state law.

Riera’s most recent address is in Bay Shore, according to public records.

He is a past president of the Brentwood Legion Ambulance, serving in 2001 and 2002, according to the organization’s website.

A Brentwood dispatcher reached Saturday said his superiors told him to decline to comment.

It wasn’t immediately known if Riera had an attorney. Attempts to contact him Saturday were unsuccessful.

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