Just came across this on another :) board. If there are any Utah people out there, did you hear this?
Perhaps this is old news. I apologize if you've already heard this, but KUTV is reporting that police have identified the man who helped tow Ricci's Jeep to the auto shop at the end of May. Apparently, it's someone who hired Ricci to help him do home building and renovation work. Police are looking for the guy. They want to question him concerning the whereabouts of the Jeep, and they also want to find out if he's the same guy who waited across the street for Ricci when he returned the Jeep. KUTV is also reporting that Pete Romero, the ex-con who had been in jail for molesting a 14 year old and who lives two houses down from Ricci, is now wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet so that police can keep up with his whereabouts. He has been interviewed several times and given a polygraph. KUTV counts four ex-convicts who have already been questioned, and a fifth that is either being questioned or being looked for.
Investigators Question Sex Offender Who Lives Near Ricci
July 5, 2002 12:42 pm
(KUTV) Investigators in the Elizabeth Smart case are keeping tabs on another ex-convict. He is a neighbor of Richard Ricci, the man who still seems to be at the center of the investigation.
Pete Romero did prison time for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, armed robbery and assaulting a police officer. He lives a couple of doors from Ricci.
Romero said he is sorry for his crimes, and insists he had nothing to do with the abduction of Elizabeth Smart.
"My heart goes out to that family, and that little girl. No child should have to go through something like that," Romero said.
As of Monday Romero has been ordered to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet to track his whereabouts. He's also under a new curfew.
Romero has been interviewed several times by investigators and has taken a polygraph. He said given his criminal history, he understands investigators questioning him, but said he can't understand police tactics when they talked to his neighbors.
"Just what the neighbors told me. They questioned them, asking if they knew I was a rapist, and what I was convicted for, that I was a very dangerous person, just trying to scare them, using scare tactics," Romero said.
Meantime, a man has been identified who helped tow Richard Ricci's white jeep to a West Valley auto repair shop. 2-news has been told the man hired Ricci for building or renovating homes.
Detectives may be looking for him now. Police are very interested in tracking the whereabouts of Ricci's Cherokee which was given to him by Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, for work at his home.
Police said the Cherokee was put in the shop at the end of May. A man reportedly help tow the Jeep to the shop at that time. The Cherokee reportedly was later removed and then returned three days after the Smart abduction. A mechanic said the jeep was brought back caked with mud and with about a thousand additional miles on the odometer.
The mechanic said he saw Ricci walk across the street and meet another man. The mechanic did not get a good look at the second man. Police want to know if it is the same man who helped Ricci tow the truck to the shop the first time in late May.
Police still have not named Ricci as a suspect, and his wife insists Ricci was at home the night Smart was kidnapped. Ricci's wife has already testified before a federal grand jury looking into the Smart abduction.
In all police are now questioning four ex-convicts in the case and a fifth man who may have been with Ricci when he returned the SUV to the repair shop.
http://kutv.com/related/StoryF older/story_1102873425_html/in dex_htmlHD - Great post. I had wondered if Ricci had to tow the Jeep into the repair shop on May 30. I assumed either the Jeep wasn't running at all or not running reliably with the faulty fuel pump and Ricci had to get it repaired for his role in the caper, probably the getaway driver, or he just used the fuel pump as an excuse to take it into the shop (he may have damaged the fuel pump himself).
He towed it into Mohl Auto Repair and gave him a list of things that needed done. Naturally Mohl would repair the fuel pump first to get it running. Ricci's wife called Mohl and verified the fuel pump was repaired and told him her husband needed to pick it up and sweet talked him into letting him have it for a while without having to pay & sign for work done. Ricci came in and told Mohl he needed the Jeep for an 'emergency'. After Ricci picked up the Jeep on May 30 it was not seen by any neighbors at his trailer from that date through Jun 8 when he returned it to Mohl.
Ricci denies taking the Jeep from Mohl and returning it on Jun 8. Mrs. Ricci says someone happened to steal a set of keys to the Jeep from them in mid-April implying the thief might have taken the Jeep from Mohl, despite the fact Ricci was a regular customer and Mohl knew him and kept records. Mrs. Ricci also said she had happened to run out of her muscle relaxers just before Jun 5 making her unable to sleep, although her neighbor friend says she was taking them then.
Ricci wanted the Jeep to appear to be at the shop during the kidnapping so his vehicle wouldn't be suspected. As I said before he may have done damage to the fuel pump just to have reason to take it into Moul's. Alternatively, as someone has said FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt has implied (though he doesn't seem to have the best facts in this case)Mohl may have originally been involved and paniced when the police showed up and gave Ricci up. In this case Mrs. Ricci may be correct that she never called him. The original plan may have been for Moul to say the Jeep was at the shop all the time or say it disappeared and he assumed Ricci had picked it up. The 'Jeep at the repair shop diversion' shows Ricci was involved in planning for the kidnapping from before May 30.