Ex-model convicted of kicking toddler during racist rant at Wichita grocery store
Trace Riff — the former high-fashion model whose downward spiral into drugs and violence landed him in jail in Wichita last year — was convicted Thursday of kicking a toddler at an east-side grocery store during a racist tirade.
Riff, 32, is white. The toddler boy is African-American. One-year-old Jhavii Fry was with his pregnant mother and older sister in the Dillons store at Douglas and Hillside two days before Christmas when Riff reportedly walked in, knocked the child over from behind and yelled the N-word. He also shouted about being a white supremacist.
Leaders in the black community have called the incident a hate crime. The child’s mother, Lashantai Whitaker, has said her son was wearing a thick coat that protected him from being hurt physically but worries about the psychological toll of the attack on her family.
In an interview with The Eagle after Riff’s arrest his paternal grandmother expressed concern over his mental capacity — he’s used drugs and has been homeless after leading a glamorous life in New York and abroad. But she claimed the racial slur was out of character because Riff has black family members.
With his public defender at his side Thursday morning, Riff entered what’s known as an Alford plea — accepting a plea deal while maintaining innocence — to one count of attempted aggravated battery and one count of disorderly conduct in the attack on the toddler. The battery charge alleged the crime was particularly harsh because it was racially motivated and the boy is young.
He entered the same plea to one count of unlawful abuse of toxic vapors and one count of possession of methamphetamine in a separate case alleging he’d huffed a can of Ultra Duster compressed air on Dec. 22 and had meth with him in a vacant apartment on Jan. 3.
Riff appeared alert and was quick to respond when Sedgwick County District Judge Jeff Syrios asked if he understood that he would be giving up the right to a jury trial if he entered an Alford plea.
Now clean cut, he looks vastly different from the disheveled man police arrested after the attack.
Asked whether he was taking medication that could affect his decision-making, Riff said, “No.”
He hasn’t been ordered to take any medication, defense attorney Mark Orr told the judge in court.
After the hearing, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said ultimately Riff will end up in custody — either in prison or at the state psychiatric hospital at Larned, depending upon whether he has a condition the hospital thinks it can treat. Riff “has a long history of declining mental health, probably precipitated by extensive drug use,” he said.
Riff’s grandmother has previously told The Eagle she believes the underlying cause of his outbursts is Huntington’s disease, an inherited disorder that causes brain nerve cells to break down. Symptoms include cognitive and psychiatric disorders.
If Riff ends up in prison, Bennett said the Kansas Department of Corrections could send him to its mental health correctional facility, which also is in Larned.
The maximum term he could receive is about 5 1/2 years, depending on his prior criminal history. The judge also will have some discretion in deciding Riff’s fate. He is scheduled for sentencing in August.
“He’s not going to be in prison for an extended period of time. These are fairly low-level felonies,” Bennett said. “But when he gets out we’re trying to see if we can’t get him straightened out so he’s less of a threat.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2019 at 10:08 AM.
