A 45-year-old man was arrested in the theft of a bronze Jackie Robinson statue that was cut off at the ankles and found days later smoldering in a trash can in a city park in Kansas, police announced Tuesday.
Ricky Alderete was taken into custody earlier this month in a kidnapping case and charged Monday with four counts stemming from the theft and a 2022 case, records show. Wichita police Lt. Aaron Moses said there was no evidence it was a “hate-motivated crime” but rather the intent was to sell the metal for scrap.
Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan said it was “only the first arrest” and that there were more to come. He did not specify how police determined Alderete was a suspect in the theft.
“When you try to take something from this community, it won’t tolerate it,” he said, adding that he was eager to share more details about the investigation after more suspects are in custody.
Messages left with numbers believed to belong to his family members were not immediately returned.
His attorney in the public defender’s office didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Thieves cut the bronze statue from its base last month at a park in Wichita, Kansas. Only the statue’s feet were left at McAdams Park, where about 600 children play in a youth baseball league called League 42.
It is named after Robinson’ s uniform number with the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom he broke the major leagues’ color barrier in 1947.
Fire crews found burned remnants of the statue five days later while responding to a trash can fire at another park about 7 miles (11.27 kilometers) away.
Alderete, who is jailed on $150,000 bond, faces charges of felony theft and aggravated criminal damage to property in the statue case.