Joaquin Rivera was a "tremendous advocate for sustaining Puerto Rican folk arts here," according to the Philadelphia Folklore Project.
advertisement
Photos and Videos
Investigation: Musician Robbed, Dies in E.R.
How did a popular musician and high school counselor die -- and get robbed -- in a local emergency room? Philadelphia City Council takes up the Joaquin Rivera case on Tuesday. A nurse called for Rivera twice, but a report on his death says the nurse never got up to look for the 63-year old man. The hearing will examine whether the hospital followed proper procedures.
The third defendant has pleaded guilty to lifting the wristwatch off a man dying in a Philadelphia hospital waiting room last fall.
Forty-five-year-old Richard Alten pleaded guilty to theft and conspiracy Monday, and Common Pleas Judge Adam Beloff sentenced him to 30 months of probation as well as drug and alcohol screening.
Prosecutors said Alten stole a watch from 63-year-old Joaquin Rivera, a popular high school couselor and local musician, as he sat unresponsive in an emergency room waiting area of Aria Health's Frankford Campus in November 2009. Officials say Rivera died of a heart attack.
Alten's co-defendants, 42-year-old Martin Smith and 22-year-old Jannira Walker, pleaded guilty earlier and were also sentenced to probation.
