The man who stole 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 will spend about 15 years in prison, although most of that sentence is related to a burglary that happened a few days later.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man who stole 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 is going to spend about 15 years in prison, although most of that time is related to a burglary that happened a few days after the January statue heist.

A judge sentenced Ricky Alderete Friday on three different cases that he said in court stemmed from his addiction to fentanyl.

The League 42 youth baseball league plans to unveil a replacement statue of Robinson crafted from the original mold Monday at a park in Wichita, Kansas. The city was shocked when the statue was cut from its base in January, leaving only the statue’s feet behind. The league that primarily serves low-income youth is named after Robinson’s uniform number with the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom he broke the major leagues’ color barrier in 1947.

Firefighters 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 pleaded guilty to the theft. He was sentenced to 18 months and ordered to pay $41,500 restitution for stealing the statue. He got the most time for an aggravated burglary that happened Feb. 1 that carried a sentence of 13.5 years in prison.

  • @ArbitraryValueEnglish
    18•1 month ago

    Why did he steal the statue if he didn’t sell it as scrap metal?

    • @[email protected]OP
      40•1 month ago

      I have a connection to this case as my cousin is the person whose house he broke into. He stole it and tried to melt it down in a garbage can, thinking it would be easier to sell in non-statue form.

    • Flying Squid
      -18•1 month ago

      Because he’s an asshole racist. Which is why he did it in the first place.

      • @[email protected]
        4•1 month ago

        He was just trying to sell it. Why are people like you so eager to make everything so racially charged?

        • Flying Squid
          4•1 month ago

          I don’t know, maybe because we have one of two presidential candidates saying a bunch of racist shit and getting very little blowback (and a lot of support)? Kind of makes me think there’s a shitload of racists in America.