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 Jul 31, 2002 1:54 pm US/Mountain
A former handyman named by police as the top potential suspect in the abduction of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart pleaded innocent on Wednesday to unrelated burglary and theft charges.
Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, has repeatedly said that he thinks Richard Albert Ricci, 48, was somehow involved in his daughter's kidnapping.
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.
``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.''
Smart said Angela Ricci maintained her husband was innocent.
The teen was taken 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, who worked in the Smart home as a handyman last year, has not been charged in connection with the abduction and says he had nothing to do with it.
``He's very strong in his denials,'' Ricci's former attorney, David K. Smith, said after the hearing. During the hearing before 3rd District Judge Randall Skanchy, Smith withdrew as Ricci's attorney, citing Ricci's indigence. The court will appoint an attorney to the case.
Ricci was brought in shackles to the courtroom, which was under heavy security.
Ricci glanced at his wife and father-in-law intermittently during the hearing, while the charges were read and his pleas entered. As he was led away, he mouthed ``I love you'' to his wife.
He is charged with two counts of misdemeanor theft, one count of burglary, a 2nd degree felony, and a charge of being a career criminal, a 1st degree felony.
Ricci has been held in maximum security at the Utah State Prison since his arrest June 14 for violating his parole. Officials say they don't want him housed in the general population because of the publicity surrounding Elizabeth's abduction.
His next court appearance was scheduled for Aug. 27 at 2 p.m. At that hearing he will have the opportunity to enter a plea, set a date for a preliminary hearing or waive the hearing and proceed to trail.
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 is accused of taking items from a 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. The state is seeking a career criminal enhancement that could send him to state prison for life.
In addition to the burglary charges he faces in state court, Ricci has been charged in federal court with bank robbery and is facing a ``three strikes'' enhancement that would keep him in prison for the rest of his life if convicted.
Police have said Ricci has not been forthcoming about where he was between May 30 and June 8. During that time, Ricci put 500 to 1,000 miles on his Jeep Cherokee, an auto mechanic said.
I agree, it may not mean anything. It was just that Mr. Smith didn't say that he advised his client not to talk to the police about the kidnapping, but implied they hadn't tried to talk to Ricci in awhile. I may just be reading to much into what Mr. Smith said. If I remember right, he also said that as far as he knew the police hadn't talked to Ricci. So it didn't sound like he had told Ricci not to talk to the police.
I wish there had been a followup question for Mr. Smith about his statements and if the police had requested a meeting with Ricci and if Mr. Smith had advised his client not to talk to the police at all or not to talk to the police without a lawyer present.
3 guesses..need I say anymore.
recognized because she listened to suspect voice samplings or she recognized the voice because she heard the abductor previously as an acquaintance? I wonder if the police will ever give the public any new facts soon. I wish I were a fly on the Smart's wall.
If they want to shave.
Ed Smart was in the courtroom, and he met in a room, (Judge's chambers?) with Angela Ricci. ??
Bet it was interesting.
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