By: Benjamin He

On Friday, August 2nd, Ricky Alderte, 45, was found guilty of stealing and destroying a Jackie Robinson statue and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The statue was located in Wichita, Kansas. The theft sent shockwaves through the Wichita community after the beloved baseball player’s statue was found missing.

Adlerte, who was found to have a criminal record for drug charges, was the only person arrested in the investigation concerning the statue. Although he was the only person sentenced, authorities say that more individuals were involved in the theft. Adlerte was charged with, according to the New York Times, “felony theft, aggravated criminal damage to property and giving false information in connection with the crime.”

The first guesses were that the theft was some kind of hate crime, but later in the investigation it was revealed that the most likely motivator for the crime was simply profit.

“…we believe this theft was motivated by the financial gain of scrapping common metal,” Lt. Aaron Moses of the Wichita Police Department said at the time.

Surveillance footage revealed that on the night of January 25, two figures had used a concrete saw on the statue, removing the main body from its feet before placing it in the bed of a truck. Later, pieces of the statue were discovered in a burning trash can. The statue was deemed beyond repair.

The investigation eventually acquired some of Mr. Adlerte’s text messages, one of which said: “I am on my way to the scrap yard now so that we can process the scrap and get paid.” The line was about a large portion of stolen bronze that weighed around 250 to 350 pounds.

Mr. Adlerte later admitted to stealing the statue, but reported that he was hired to do so, and that he was also never paid. Court records stated that more than one person was involved in the sale of the statue. In a court he was sentenced to162 months in prison for aggravated burglary (the statue theft) and 18 months in prison for property damage.