Kansas man pleads guilty in theft of Jackie Robinson statue, faces 19 years in jail

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.

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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.

The new statue is scheduled to be installed in August after Major League Baseball and its 30 teams said they will help replace it.