close

LCSO Sgt. Rivera retires from PIE, but says he will still be around

By PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com 2 min read
article image -
Willie and Kristi Rivera. PHOTO PROVIDED

Lee County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Willie Rivera came to protect Pine Island in 2009. After being stabbed on the job in Bokeelia in March 2018, he said he went to Pine Island Elementary School to serve as a resource officer.

“It wasn’t by choice. They told me it was for my safety,” Rivera said.

Rivera also said at the time he took the role he would keep until retirement at the school, he had no idea that it had been his true calling all along.

He had noticed there had always been kids from the ages of 18 months to approximately 7 years in the majority of calls that found their way to him, but it took going to Pine Island Elementary for him to realize this plan may have been in the cards for him the whole time.

“I was there to protect the kids, and I never knew I was a kid-person. I never knew I was going to be a protector of the kids,” Rivera said.

While he admits being now retired from the law enforcement field, he’s looking forward to working with his wife, who does real estate appraisals. This change, he said, will allow him the freedom to do whatever he wants.

“If I want to work all day, I’ll work all day. If I want to go fishing, I’ll go fishing, “Rivera said.

He said retirement for him looks a lot like vacation. He will miss the kids at the school, as he said, every day with them at that job was its own special time.

“They’re like my own,” Rivera said, adding that every kid he worked with became special to him and that he wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“People are always asking for a purpose in life, for a calling. Now I know — it’s to protect,” Rivera said.

Of all the things that came with this job, he said he will, of course, miss the kids, but also the staff at the school.

“You get really close to everybody. They were like my family. I protected them (the staff) just as much as I did the kids and I made sure they understood that. They knew that,” Rivera said.

To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email