Ricky Alderete. | Source: Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office
L ast month, we reported that a statue of baseball icon Jackie Robinson was cut off at the ankles and stolen from a park in Wichita, Kansas, only to be found dismantled and burned in a trashcan the same day. Of course, the assumption was that the thieves were racists who desecrated a monument to a Black historical figure out of hate (and possibly revenge for the removal of the Confederate racists, human traffickers and warmongers we call “American heroes”). Well, it turns out we were all wrong and racism was not the motive behind this heinous crime—if you ask the police.
According to CNN , the Wichita Police Department announced the arrest of 45-year-old Ricky Alderete, who has been charged with felony theft, aggravated criminal damage to property, identity theft and making false information. Alderete will not, however, be charged with a hate crime because, as Wichita Police Lt. Aaron Moses made sure to note during a news conference, “The investigation has not revealed any evidence indicating that this was a hate-motivated crime.”