Prosecutors Thursday filed burglary and theft charges against Richard Albert Ricci for burglaries in the Smart home and one other residence in the Federal Heights neighborhood where Elizabeth Smart was abducted June 5.
Ricci was charged with burglary, a second-degree felony, and theft, a class A misdemeanor, in the theft of items from a Federal Heights house on April 4, 2001. He was also charged with theft, a third-degree felony, in the theft of items from the Smart house on June 6, 2001. The charges are not related to the kidnapping.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Salt Lake District Attorney David Yocom said the stolen items from the Smart house included jewelry and a perfume bottle worth an estimated $3,500.
When Smart confronted Ricci about the theft, Ricci denied stealing anything and was fired, according to the charges.
On June 19 of this year, police searched Ricci's trailer and found jewelry, a bottle of perfume and a wine glass filled with sea shells, which Smart later identified as stolen from his home. Ricci later admitted to stealing the items from the Smart house, charges state.
In the April 1, 2001, incident, a family who'd hired Ricci for remodeling work noticed jewelry and $300 in cash missing from their house April 4. Ricci was doing electrical work in a bedroom the day before. On the morning of April 4 someone sleeping in that same bedroom was awakened by a rustling noise. The person thought it was a family member and told the person it was OK to turn on the light. The individual responded only with a cough. The person turned to see the profile of what looked like a man, then rolled over and went back to sleep, charges state.
The family woke up the next morning to find a sliding glass door into the home opened and jewelry and $300 in cash missing from the room, charges state.
On June 15, 2002, Ricci admitted stealing jewelry and $100 cash from the residence, charges state. After searching Ricci's mobile home, police also found a shirt from the home, charges state.
Ricci will likely make an initial appearance Friday or Monday on the charges, Yocom said. Ricci remains at the Utah State Prison on a parole violation without bail.
Ricci's attorney David Smith had scheduled a press conference for Thursday afternoon to respond to the theft and burglary charges.
The 48-year-old handyman who worked in the Smart house before the kidnapping has denied any involvement in Elizabeth's kidnapping.
"It's important to note that while Mr. Ricci remains a central figure in this abduction investigation of Elizabeth Smart, he has not been charged with that crime and he is not the sole focus of the investigation," Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse told reporters Thursday morning.
Dinse said investigators are interested in how the thefts show a "pattern of conduct," that "considerably raised our interest."
While Ricci is garnering significant attention, Dinse said investigators are also looking at people not associated with the handyman.
"It doesn't mean he is, in fact, the abductor in this case," Dinse said.
The new charges against Ricci include a habitual criminal enhancement that could increase the penalty for the alleged crimes to life in prison, Yocom said.
Ricci's criminal history dates back to 1973, when he was convicted of second-degree felony burglary, Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford said. Another burglary conviction came in 1981, Ford said.
Ricci's most serious offense came in 1983 when he was sent to prison for aggravated robbery and attempted murder after wounding a police officer during a gunfire exchange with authorities during a drugstore robbery.
Ricci was convicted of theft in 1996 for stealing about $2,500 worth of food from a food pantry in Richfield, Sibbett said. Corrections records show Ricci was paroled in September 2000.
Dinse said he hopes the information from the thefts can generate a clue Elizabeth's kidnapping.
Elizabeth's father has said he had no idea of Ricci's criminal history when he hired him.
"I'm going to really look forward to explaining my feelings on Richard when the time is right," Smart told the Deseret News. "I'll say this — that when this happened and they (police) where having me go through the list of people who'd been in our house . . . I didn't think that Richard was any different than anyone on that list."
Also at Thursday's press conference, Dinse said authorities are questioning the credibility of Ricci's wife, Angela, who says her husband was in bed with her the night of the kidnapping.
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