New Bedford Carjacking Suspect Held On $50,000 Cash Bail

26-year-old Juan Joel Rivera is charged with last Monday's armed carjacking of a Dartmouth woman.   He is also charged with armed robbery and operating a vehicle with a suspended license.  When Rivera appeared in a New Bedford courtroom today, the judge ordered him held on $50,000 cash bail.

Police accused Rivera of stealing the woman's SUV at knifepoint while she was parked on Page street near St. Luke's waiting for her daughter.   They said he made her drive a short distance before letting her out of the Chevy Tahoe on Grape Street and stealing $7 from her purse.  He then drove off in her SUV.

Rivera was arrested Friday afternoon when cops spotted the Tahoe near parked Chancery and Elm streets and staked it out.    They arrested him when he got into the SUV and drove off.    He'll be back in court on November 1st.