Ex-prosecutor charged with shoplifting to enter ARD
WEST CHESTER » The former Chester County prosecutor who was caught shoplifting from a Wegman’s supermarket is expected to appear in Common Pleas Court Tuesday to be formally admitted into the county’s diversionary sentencing program for first offenders.
Caitlin Rice, who resigned her position as an assistant district attorney after her arrest in January, had her application for admission into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program approved by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office in June.
The Attorney General had taken over handling of the case because of Rice’s former position with the county District Attorney’s Office.
A request for information on the process for how the Attorney General’s Office makes a determination on whether or not ARD should be granted to a particular defendant was not answered from the office’s spokeswoman on Monday.
As part of the ARD program, Rice, 31, of West Goshen will have to undergo 12 months of supervision by the county Adult Probation and Pre-Trial Services Department. She will have to complete 60 hours of community service during that time period, complete retail theft classes, and undergo a mental health evaluation and follow any recommended treatment. She must also pay $1,090 in fees and costs.
Rice is scheduled to appear with her attorney, William Brennan of Philadelphia,
and eight other defendants seeking the pre-trial intervention program before Senior Judge Arthur Tilson at the Chester County Justice Center. If she completes the ARD program successfully, she would escape having a criminal conviction on her record and would be able to request that her record be expunged. If she fails to complete the conditions, she could be removed from the ARD program and face trial on the original charges of misdemeanor retail theft.
According to a criminal complaint filed by
East Whiteland police, Rice, 31, of West Goshen was stopped by Wegman’s store security in the parking lot of the grocery store in East Whiteland on New Year’s Eve. She had reportedly gone through a checkout line at the store and paid for other items before leaving, the complaint stated, but not the highend wine bottles worth $441 secreted in her bag.
Rice resigned her position in the D.A.’s Office on Jan. 3, the date charges were filed.
Before her resignation, Rice had been involved in the prosecution of several high profile cases in the county since she was hired in November 2015. Most recently, Rice was assigned as the lead prosecutor in the theft case against Monsignor Joseph McLoone, the former chief pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in Downingtown, who is accused of stealing money from parishioners there to pay for personal expenses, including gifting men he was involved in sexual relationships with.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.