Police in Wichita, Kan., have arrested a man accused of stealing and later destroying a Jackie Robinson statue last month.
The statue was stolen from McAdams Park around midnight on Jan. 25 and loaded into the back of a pickup truck by three people, who were filmed by a nearby security camera. The bronze statue, which was once a symbol of inspiration for young baseball players in the area, was severed at the ankles, leaving only Robinson’s shoes.
On Tuesday, the Wichita Police Department said 45-year-old Ricky Alderete was arrested in connection with the theft.
Alderete has been charged with felony theft (valued over US$25,000) and aggravated criminal damage to property. He was also charged with identity theft and making false information stemming from an unrelated 2022 incident involving a pawn ticket.
Alderete is in police custody on US$150,000 bond.
Despite earlier speculation, Wichita PD said officers are “very confident” the theft was not a hate-motivated crime.
“Instead, we believe this theft was motivated by the financial gain of scrapping common metal,” police revealed in a statement.
“Our detectives remain committed to gathering information to identify and charge all individuals involved in the theft and destruction of the Jackie Robinson statue.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Wichita Council member Brandon Johnson said Alderete is “just one” of the perpetrators in the crime.
“I’m looking forward to the rest of them being arrested and charged as well because this is an occurrence that should not have happened,” Johnson said.
Police did not disclose how many suspects are being sought in the case. The investigation is ongoing.
Days after the Jackie Robinson statue was taken, pieces of the sculpture were discovered broken and burned in a trash can across town at Garvey Park. The statue could not be saved.
It was originally created by artist John Parsons and donated to the Wichita community in 2021 by the local non-profit Little League organization League 42, which facilitates baseball for hundreds of youths in the city. (Robinson’s number with the Brooklyn Dodgers was 42.)
Still, Bob Lutz, the executive director of League 42, is hopeful Jackie Robinson will return to his rightful spot in McAdams Park one day. Already, nearly US$200,000 in donations has been raised to rebuild the statue.
The mould used to create the bronze Robinson statue is still usable. Lutz promised the statue will be recreated and replaced in McAdams Park as part of a “joyous occasion.”
In his life, Robinson was a talented baseball player and civil rights figure. Born in 1919, Robinson would go on to become the first Major League Baseball player to break the organization’s “colour barrier” and play on a racially integrated team for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He played with the Dodgers for 10 years, then following his retirement, was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other civil rights groups.
Robinson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, 10 years before his death in 1972 at age 53.
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