You can’t run forever.
Nearly three weeks after a Jackie Robinson statue was stolen from a Wichita, Kansas park, and later found burned and destroyed, local police have found the white man responsible for the crime.
According to KAKE, Wichita Police arrested and charged 45-year-old Ricky Alderete with felony theft, identity theft, making false information, and aggravated criminal damage.
The problem with Alderete’s actions is not that he only destroyed a statue that honors one of the most important athletes in American history, it’s that the statue was also very expensive.
According to the Wichita Police Department (WPD), the statue was valued at $75,000.
While his arrest is a big development in the case, Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan stated that it was only the first one, implying that there are many more arrests to come, according to KAKE.
The WPD clarified that Alderete was taken into police custody earlier this month in a case unrelated to the statue theft. Furthermore, police stated that there is no evidence that the crime was motivated by hate or race.
When it comes to the state of the statue, League 42, a youth baseball league that plays its games at the park where the statue was stolen, started a GoFundMe to help pay for a replacement. The community raised more than $190,000, blowing past its goal of $175,000.
A fundraiser was required because when remains of the statue were found, there was essentially nothing left of it, making it nearly impossible to repair, leaving the replacement of the statue in the communities’ hands.
The statue is also important to the youth baseball league because it pays homage to Robinson’s uniform number and is in an area that has a long history with the legendary second baseman.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarch of the Negro Leagues in 1945 and was drafted and assigned to an Army calvary unit in Kansas in 1942.