Wichita landscaper pleads no contest in theft case

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated the type of plea entered.

A Wichita landscaper pleaded no contest to one count of felony theft midway through his bench trial this week.

The case against Rick’s Tree and Landscape owner Ricky Moyer, 30, stems from payments he took from two Sedgwick County residents for work he never completed, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

He is scheduled for sentencing July 19. When a defendant pleads no contest he or she neither admits nor disputes the criminal charges but the immediate effect is the same as the guilty plea.

In a phone message left Thursday evening with The Eagle, Moyer said he plans to hire an attorney to fight the conviction. He is currently being represented by a court-appointed lawyer.

“I did not steal money from these people,” Moyer said in the message. “... They are trying to convict an innocent person of a crime he did not commit.”

Prosecutors say Moyer took up-front payments for tree trimming, landscaping, concrete and construction work on homes in west Wichita and Derby in 2014 and 2015 but failed to complete shed-building projects on at least two properties. The victims hired Moyer after seeing his business fliers posted in their neighborhoods. In total, they lost more than $18,000, prosecutors contend.

The District Attorney’s Office plans to ask that Moyer be ordered to serve five years of probation and pay restitution when he is sentenced, the release said.

On Wednesday during his plea hearing, Moyer told Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Syrios that his business had money troubles and that he’d already refunded part of the cash to his customers, according to the news release.

The District Attorney’s Office dropped two other charges in exchange for Moyer’s guilty plea.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 1:12 PM with the headline "Wichita landscaper pleads no contest in theft case."