Assistant DA charged with shoplifting
WEST CHESTER >> A former prosecutor in the Chester County District Attorney’s Office has been charged with shoplifting more than $400 worth of merchandise from the Wegman’s supermarket in Malvern, putting an apparent end to her blooming career in the county.
Caitlin Erin Rice was stopped by store security in the parking lot of the high-end grocery store with several items that she had allegedly not paid for inside bags in her shopping cart on New Year’s Eve, according to a criminal complaint filed by East Whiteland police.
She had reportedly gone through a checkout line at the store and paid for other items before leaving, the complaint stated.
Rice, 31, of West Goshen, was charged with retail theft, graded as a first-degree misdemeanor. A preliminary hearing before Senior Magisterial District Judge William Kraut is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 14, at the District Court in Tredyffrin.
Rice reportedly resigned her position as assistant district attorney on Monday. New District Attorney Deb Ryan on Friday declined to comment on the matter.
Because of her association with the DA’s Office, Rice’s case will most likely be prosecuted by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
An attempt to reach Rice’s attorney, William Brennan of Philadelphia, was unsuccessful.
Rice had been involved in the prosecution of several high profile cases in the county since she was hired in November 2015.
She was part of the team that won a conviction for a West Chester University student who in April 2016 attempted to rape a fellow student in a campus parking garage before he was interrupted by another student who scared him away. Rice was also a cocounsel on the case of a Coatesville street gang member accused of shooting and killing a U.S. Air Force veteran in a confrontation on Belmont Street in the city in October 2016.
The cases were difficult matters to prove, but Rice and her colleagues were successful at winning guilty verdicts. In the sexual assault case, the victim was too intoxicated at the time to remem
ber what had happened in the incident, while in the Coatesville murder case witnesses that had come forward to identify the shooter tried to change their testimony at trial because of the fear of witness intimidation. Rice later won convictions for those who had beaten one of the witnesses to scare him off.
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. The muchpublicized case had been on Judge Jeffrey Sommer’s trial list for later this month, although it was unlikely to be called for trial then. Rice was one of the prosecutors assigned to Sommer’s court.
According to the arrest affidavit filed by Officer Thomas Ralph of the East Whiteland police, he was called to the Wegman’s on Foundry Way around 3:50 p.m. Dec. 31 for the report of a retail theft. Store security personnel said that they had a female suspect in their office and that she was cooperating with them.
Ralph wrote that upon his arrival at the store, he went to the Asset Protection Office where he immediately recognized Rice from previous contacts.
He said the store officer showed him a receipt for the items that Rice had failed to pay for, and that it totaled $441. The security officer said he had also had video surveillance of Rice going through the store and concealing items within bags in her shopping cart, then passing points of sale without paying for them. At the same time, the video showed Rice going through a checkout line and purchasing about $87 worth of items.
After going through the checkout, she left the store and was stopped in the parking lot. After giving a written statement to the store security, Rice was taken to the township police station, where she was processed and released on a summons.
Rice received her undergraduate degree from the College of Charleston and her law degree from Temple University School of Law. She is a former intern with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the county DA’s Office, and is a daughter of U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Rice of Philadelphia.
When she was hired along with two other assistant district attorneys, former District Attorney Tom Hogan said he considered his office, “fortunate to add these prosecutors. They are bright, hard-working, and ethical. They will be a credit to the citizens of Chester County.”