Man charged in Jackie Robinson statue theft; crime wasn’t racially motivated, police say
A 45-year-old Wichita man has been charged in the Jan. 25 Jackie Robinson statue theft in McAdams Park, which led to national media coverage and donations from Major League Baseball and its teams.
“The investigation has not revealed any evidence indicating this was a hate-motivated crime,” police Lt. Aaron Moses said during a news conference Tuesday morning. “Instead, we believe this theft was motivated by the financial gain of scrapping common metal.”
Ricky Angel Alderete has been charged with felony theft valued at over $25,000, aggravated criminal damage to property, identity theft and making false information, Moses said.
Police presented the case to Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett on Monday. It was charged that day.
At least three people were involved in the theft.
“I am confident this is only the first arrest, and that there will be a lot more to come,” Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said.
League 42 founder and executive director Bob Lutz said he doesn’t agree with police that this isn’t a race-related crime.
“It’s an iconic African-American person, baseball player [statue], that was destroyed,” Lutz said after the news conference. “That’s a racial crime as far as I’m concerned.”
Alderete has been in the Sedgwick County Jail since Feb. 1 after being arrested in a separate case. In that case, he’s been charged with kidnapping and two counts of aggravated burglary, according to court records. He was also arrested for probation violation in a 2021 theft case he pleaded guilty in, records show.
The statue was one of the main gathering places for nonprofit League 42, which hosts several hundred children in its summer baseball league.
Robinson, who wore number 42, was the first Black player to play in Major League Baseball, breaking the color barrier when he suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
The statue was stolen early in the morning on Jan. 25. The bronze, 275-pound statue was cut off at the shoes and then hauled away. Video surveillance showed at least three people involved in the theft.
On Jan. 28, police found the suspected truck used in the theft unoccupied at a Wichita apartment complex. Moses said the truck doesn’t belong to Alderete.
Two days later, Wichita firefighters were called to a fire in Garvey Park, about 7 miles south of where the statue was taken, and found parts of the statue burned in the trash.
The incident attracted national media attention, which led the MLB and its teams to donate to replace the statue. The statue was valued at $75,000.
A GoFundMe raised nearly $195,000, but donations poured in through other avenues as well. A new statue will be erected mid-to-late summer. A foundry in Loveland, Colorado, is forging the statue.
Lutz said League 42 will work with the city on security measures.
“We’re not going to fence it off. The beauty of the Jackie Robinson statue is for people to be a part of it, and approach it and love it the same way we do,” Lutz said. “Our kids are enthralled by Jackie Robinson. We’ve created a whole new generation of interest in a player who hasn’t played in major league baseball in 70 years.”
Police said they conducted more than 100 interviews in the case.
In 2013, Alderete was sentenced in two different Sumner County cases that involved theft and two counts of burglary, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. He was released into Sedgwick County from prison in November 2017 and taken off parole a year later.
Contributing: Eduardo Castillo with The Eagle
This story was originally published February 13, 2024 at 11:33 AM.