Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. — A forty five-year-old man has pleaded guilty to stealing a bronze Jackie Robinson statue that was cut off on the ankles and located days later smoldering in a trash can in a Kansas city park.
Ricky Alderete commented on the plea during his arraignment on Thursday. A judge approved it on Friday.
Authorities arrested him in February. According to court documents, he entered a house in Wichita with the intent to kidnap someone to disrupt law enforcement.
Then later that month he was charged with grand larceny and aggravated criminal damage within the statue theft, together with two other charges. Police said there was no evidence this was a hate-motivated crime. The intention was somewhat to sell the metal as scrap, the police said.
The bronze statue was cut off from its base in a park in Wichita, Kansas, in January. At McAdams Park, where about 600 children play in a youth baseball league called League 42, only the statue's feet remained. It is known as after Robinson's jersey number with the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom he broke the main leagues' color barrier in 1947.
Firefighters found burned stays of the statue five days later while responding to a trash can fire at one other park about 7 miles (11.27 kilometers) away.
Alderete had a criminal record that included burglary and theft, state corrections department records show. His sentencing in the most recent case is scheduled for July 1.
Nearly $300,000 in donations poured in after the theft and work is underway to interchange it.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way in which for generations of black American ballplayers. He is taken into account not only a sports legend, but in addition a civil rights icon. Robinson died in 1972.
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