Man faces 19 years for theft
Robinson statue will be replaced
A man pleaded guilty to helping steal a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson from a Wichita, Kansas, park.
Ricky Alderete, 45, was charged in February with felony theft valued at over $25,000, aggravated criminal damage to property, identity theft, and making false information.
He will be formally sentenced on July 1 after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary, aggravated criminal damage to property, interference with law enforcement, criminal damage to property, theft, making a false writing, and identity theft.
A district judge told Alderete the maximum sentence is 229 months, or over 19 years, in prison. Alderete will also have to pay $41,500 to League 42, a youth baseball league named for the Hall of Famer's uniform number.
The 275-pound statue was taken from McAdams Park in Wichita on Jan. 25, and only its feet were left after thieves dismantled it.
Alderete admitted to being part of a crew that stole the statue from the park and putting it in a pickup truck.
Five days later, the Wichita Fire Department, responding to a fire call, found parts of the statue in a trash can. Authorities said there was no evidence of a hate crime, but the motive was to sell the metal for scrap.
A new statue is scheduled to be installed in August after Major League Baseball and its 30 teams said they will help replace it.