Posted on 07/30/2002 10:14:47 PM PDT by Jolly Green
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| 04/01/01 | Sunday | Ricci burglarizes a Smart neighbor's home taking various items. |
| 06/05/01 | Tuesday | Ricci steals items from the Smart home while he is employed there as a handyman. Ricci is charged in July of 2002 of 1 count of theft related to the Smart incident. |
| 05/30/02 | Thursday | ~ Ricci returns to pick up his Jeep at the auto repair shop before the shop has a chance to fully fix it He tells the repairman that it needed for an emergency. |
| 06/04/02 | Tuesday | ~ Ricci is at work from about 9am to 5:30pm ~ Ricci claims he spends the evening with friends |
| 06/05/02 | Wednesday | ~ 1:05am - 2 cars are spotted on the SLC Shriner's Hospital Parking Lot by a hospital security guard, two blocks from the Smart residence ~ 1:30am (approx) - Elizabeth is kidnapped from her home ~ 1:30am - Ricci claims to be in bed asleep with his with wife. ~ Ricci is scheduled to be off work all day today. ~ 7:21am - Rachel/Amber alert is issued and national media is involved. ~ 8:30am - Ricci and his neighbor talk about the kidnapping of Elizabeth, Ricci seems to know too much information about it. ~ Sometime during this day Ricci is visited by police in regards to Elizabeth's kidnapping as reported by Angela Ricci (Richard A. Ricci's Wife which is an ex-convict herself) ~ Ricci is seen by his neighbor digging a hole by his (Ricci's) trailer early in the morning. (heard the neighbor say this on TV) |
| 06/06/02 | Thursday | ~ Ricci is scheduled to work from 9am to 5:30pm today, but instead works from 10:30am to 7:00pm ~ Police talk to Ricci this day about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. (The media is reporting this, so it could be wrong) |
| 06/08/02 | Saturday | ~ Ricci returns the Jeep to the repair shop to get it fixed. The Jeep is muddy and the repair shop owner sees Ricci remove seat covers from the back of the jeep and place them into a plastic garbage bag that already contains other stuff in it. Also the repair shop owner said a muddy post hole digger was in the back of the Jeep, Ricci removes this also. Ricci has a man waiting across the street to give him a ride. Ricci takes the plastic bag and contents along with the post hole digger with him. Also there is 500 to 1000 extra miles on the Jeep since Ricci picked it up on May 30th, 2002. |
| 06/14/02 | Friday | ~ Ricci is taken into custody for a parole violation, this being drinking while on parole and association with other ex-cons. |
| 07/11/02 | Thursday | Formal charges are filed against Ricci (2 counts of theft & 1 count of burglary) on the theft & burglary of the Smart neighbors home which occurred in April 2001, and 1 more count of theft for stealing from the Smart home on June 6th, 2001. |
| Special thanks to Brigette for starting this timeline. | ||
Richard Ricci
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY — A former handyman named by police as a potential suspect in the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart pleaded not guilty Wednesday to unrelated burglary and theft charges.
Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, has repeatedly said he thinks Richard Ricci, 48, was somehow involved in his 14-year-old daughter's disappearance.
Smart was in the courtroom for Ricci's appearance. In an unusual move, he and a family spokesman met privately for 25 minutes in a court office with Ricci's wife, Angela, and her father, David Morse Sr.
AP Elizabeth Smart "I just wanted to talk to her. I just wanted to plead with her," Smart said as he left the courthouse. "I am doing everything I can for my daughter."
Angela Ricci, who left the court without commenting, maintained her husband's innocence, Smart said.
The teen was taken at gunpoint from her bedroom early June 5. Her 9-year-old sister, who had been sleeping in the same bed with Elizabeth, witnessed the abduction.
Ricci worked in the Smart home as a handyman last year but has not been charged in connection with the abduction. He has said he had nothing to do with it.
Ricci is being held in maximum security at the Utah State Prison on the burglary and theft charges, as well as on an alleged parole violation.
He appeared in shackles in the heavily secured courtroom for the three-minute hearing and entered his innocent plea on the state charges.
Prosecutors allege Ricci stole $3,500 worth of items from the Smarts' home in June 2001. A search of Ricci's trailer last month turned up jewelry and other items that allegedly belonged to the Smarts, authorities have said. He is also charged with taking jewelry and about $300 in cash from another home in the Smarts' wealthy neighborhood.
Ricci, who worked as a handyman in both homes, admitted committing those crimes, authorities said.
In addition to the burglary charges he faces in state court, Ricci has been charged in federal court with bank robbery.
that police have not talked to Ricci in about 6 weeks
What Smith said is that the police hadn't talked to Ricci in about a month and a half. He didn't say whether he had talked to Ricci in that time. Obviously, he has since he is still representing him.
Attorney Smith, had stated on various programs, that IF Recci was charged with the crime, he would step down, and recommend a Criminal Trial Attorney.
He hasn't been charged yet.
This very thing was brought up on this running thread, when it was said..
I don't have the time now to research it out, but I know comments were made on it, and it was anyone's guess just what it meant.
I am sure Mrs. Smart knew exactly what she was hoping Elizaabeth would hear and apply.
It sounds like an admonition to me. But that is just my thought, when she first stated it. It was strange. I remember feeling that, and still do.
Why would she tell her young 14 yr. old ABDUCTED daugher to stay true?
I know that someone may answer that Elizabeth's Mother was telling her to remember God would protect her....but she uses BETSY ROSS..and..tells the kidnapped daughter.AND ALL THAT ENTAILS OF POSSIBLE RAPE, BEATING, ETC..to stay true? DO something ? I think she should have stuck with.." We love you Elizabeth, we are doing everything to find you..We know God is watching over you, Elizabeth....but stay true?
Richard Albert Ricci
Smart handyman pleads innocent
Theft, burglary charges unrelated to girl’s suspected kidnapping
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY, July 31 — The former family handyman who is the focus of police attention in the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart pleaded not guilty to theft and burglary charges in a Salt Lake City court on Wednesday
POLICE CHARGED Richard Allan Ricci with theft and burglary stemming from items that turned up missing from the Smart home and a nearby home.
He is now being held in Utah State Prison on the burglary and theft charges as well as a parole violation.
Prosecutors say Ricci stole $3,500 worth of items from the Smarts’ Federal Heights home on June 6, 2001. A search of Ricci’s trailer on June 19 turned up jewelry, a perfume bottle and a wine glass filled with sea shells that belonged to the Smarts, according to state court charging documents.
In addition, Ricci faces one burglary count and another count of theft for allegedly taking items from another home in the Smarts’ wealthy neighborhood in April 2001. Jewelry and about $300 in cash were taken during the night burglary from a bedroom as a resident slept in the same room, according to the charges.
Ricci, who worked as a handyman in both homes, admitted committing the crimes, charging documents said.
Also on Wednesday, Ricci’s lawyer, David Smith, said he will no longer be representing his client. The Salt Lake Legal Defender’s Association will take over Ricci’s case, Smith said in a statement. He did not elaborate.
BANK ROBBERY CHARGES
Earlier in July, Ricci was indicted on bank robbery charges.
Ricci, 48, Douglas Young and John Remington were all accused in the indictment of using a 9mm semiautomatic pistol to rob Far West Bank in Sandy, Utah, of $1,713 on Nov. 2.
The charges carry a total of 32 years in prison, but because Ricci is considered a career criminal, he could face life in prison if convicted. He already is in Utah State Prison on unrelated parole violations.
“The position of my client remains unchanged. The filing today has nothing to do with the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart,” Smith said Wednesday.
Elizabeth disappeared early June 5. Police believe she was abducted at gunpoint from her bedroom.
Ed Smart will be on Larry King tonight.
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