Ex-Ridgewood inspector apologizes for stealing nearly half a million dollars in quarters
JULY 9, 2014, 2:39 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2014, 2:57 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
HACKENSACK — Ridgewood’s former public works inspector repeatedly apologized on Wednesday for stealing nearly half a million dollars in loose parking meter quarters from the village.
“I am sorry for what I have done,” Thomas Rica told Judge Patrick Roma moments before being sentenced to five years’ probation. “I am very sorry. I’m…I’m just sorry.”
Rica, who lives in Hawthorne, was employed by the village for 10 years before his arrest early last year.
As part of a plea deal accepted by Roma Wednesday, Rica plead to four counts of third-degree theft, and will pay back a little more than half of what he admits he stole from his former employers.
Rica admitted in March to taking the coins over more than two years from a storage room within Village Hall.
Defending the plea agreement Wednesday, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Daniel Keitel said it took months to negotiate and will “get as much of the money back to the public as quickly as possible.”
Had the state tried Rica for second-degree theft, Keitel said he may have faced five years behind bars, but would not have been legally bound to return any of the stolen money
Rica’s lawyer, Robert Galuntucci, handed Keitel a check during Wednesday’s proceedings for $64,337.55 — his client’s initial downpayment.
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