WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas man who stole a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson, severed at the ankles and found days later smoldering in a trash can at a city park, will spend nearly 15 years in prison, but most of that time will be tied to a theft that happened just days after the statue’s heist in January.
A judge sentenced Ricky Alderete on Friday in three cases he alleged stemmed from fentanyl addiction.
The League 42 youth baseball league plans to unveil a replacement statue of Robinson, made from a mold of the original, at a park in Wichita, Kansas, on Monday.
The city was shocked when the statue was separated from its base in January, leaving only its legs behind.
The league, which is aimed primarily at low-income youth, is named after Robinson’s uniform number when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the team that broke racial segregation in major league baseball in 1947.
Firefighters discovered the burnt remains of the statue five days later while responding to a dumpster fire at another park about seven miles away.
Alderete pleaded guilty to theft. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing the statue and ordered to pay $41,500 in restitution.
He received the maximum sentence for the Feb. 1 robbery, serving a sentence of 13 years and six months in prison.
“Fentanyl took over my life and I made a lot of bad decisions. I don’t deny that. I never intended to hurt anyone,” he said in court on Friday. “I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed. Whatever you do to me today, I’m ready for it. I believe I’m where I need to be. If I had continued on this pace, I could be dead.”
After the original statue was stolen, donations were raised to replace it, including $100,000 from Major League Baseball.
Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre and Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia are scheduled to attend Monday’s unveiling ceremony.
The bronze spikes left behind when the original statue was stolen are now on display at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for generations of black American baseball players. He is considered a sports legend as well as a civil rights icon. Robinson died in 1972.
