A man has been charged with stealing a Jackie Robinson statue to sell for scrap, Kansas police said.
Ricky Alderete was charged Monday with stealing a bronze statue, according to a Facebook post by Wichita police. On January 25, the police received a report that the statue had been cut off at the ankles. He was found smoking in a trash can a few days later.
Alderete, 45, was first taken into custody earlier this month on an arrest warrant in an unrelated kidnapping case, the Associated Press reported.
Alderete was charged with four counts — including theft (value over $25,000) and aggravated criminal damage to property, according to WPD. He was additionally charged with two more counts — identity theft and providing false information — stemming from the 2022 pawn shop ticket incident. He is being held on $150,000 bail, the Associated Press reports.
During a press conference Tuesday, WPD Chief Joe Sullivan said Alderete’s arrest was “just the first arrest,” and more are expected. He added that the investigation is ongoing and that the department has questioned over 100 people.
Video by Ricky Alderete.
Wichita Police Department
WPD said that “it is not [been] any evidence to suggest that this was a hate crime, instead, we believe this theft was motivated by financial gain from dumping base metal.”
“Our detectives remain committed to gathering information to identify and charge all individuals involved in the theft and destruction of the Jackie Robinson statue,” the WPD said in a statement.
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Jackie Robinson statue in Kansas.
League Foundation 42/X
Beloved Jackie Robinson statue stolen, burned and destroyed in Wichita: ‘Our community is devastated’
On Jan. 25, WPD received a call about a theft at McAdams Park. Property crime investigators then began questioning the suspects and looking for video evidence. Three days later, “the Wichita Police Department Field Response Team located the suspected stolen vehicle, unoccupied, at an apartment complex in Wichita,” according to a WPD Facebook statement.
Then, on Jan. 30, the Wichita Fire Department discovered the remains of the statue burned beyond repair when they responded to a reported trash can fire at the park.
Jackie Robinson’s life in photos
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A bronze statue of legendary baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson was stolen from a park in Wichita, Kan., during the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.
Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP
The Jackie Robinson statue formerly stood on the youth baseball field and was owned and erected by the League 42 Foundation, a non-profit youth baseball league founded in Robinson’s honor.
On January 31, League 42 created a GoFundMe account for a replacement. The original statue was built by artist John Parsons, who has since died. “Fortunately, the mold from his work is still viable, and the statue that will reappear in McAdams Park will be the work of John Parsons,” said League 42 director Bob Lutz.
The fundraiser, which closed on February 5, raised over $190,000.
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However, Major League Baseball and its 30 clubs have announced that they will replace the league’s statue.
The remaining donations will be distributed toward “organization and operations for more than 600 children, 46 teams and our four educational programs offered free of charge,” according to a GoFundMe update from Lutz.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education