No-jail plea deal for Ridgewood coin thief dismays officials
MARCH 23, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014, 9:52 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Questions are being raised over the plea deal with a former Ridgewood official who was convicted of stealing nearly a half-million dollars in parking meter quarters but is likely to be spared any jail time.
“It’s startling to see that type of plea bargain,” said defense attorney Frank Lucianna, of the deal given to Thomas Rica of Hawthorne. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
The deal, which was orchestrated by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and Rica’s attorney, Robert Galantucci, calls for the former Ridgewood public-works inspector to receive five years’ probation when he is sentenced June 6. Rica also will have to repay the $460,000 in parking meter quarters he stole over a two-year period.
The proposed sentence also caught village officials off-guard.
In a statement, Mayor Paul Aronsohn said that “the Prosecutor’s Office was clear with us that this was their investigation and their decision, and that we had no say in the matter.”
Aronsohn added: “We were surprised and disappointed that he wasn’t going to get jail time, but I appreciate the prosecutor’s determination to recoup all of the money stolen from Ridgewood taxpayers.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/no-jail-plea-deal-for-ridgewood-coin-thief-dismays-officials-1.749904#sthash.5DCrnoHf.dpuf
I think the mayor means hopefully we will recoup all of the stolen money…
” . . . and that we had no say in the matter.”
I will believe that statement if, and only if, Mr. Molinelli himself confirms it.
Instead of casting blame in an futile attempt to distance himself from bad news, Mr. Aronsohn should have just expressed his disappointment with the “no jail time” sentencing agreement and then shut up.
And who is Aronsohn going to be blaming for the fact that there were no financial nor physicial security safeguards in place? Maybe Kathy Donovan will take the blame for those gaffs?
Can someone help me with this math? This is how I’m figuring it:
25 months=750 days minus 110 weekend days per year (220) =530, minus 10 paid holidays per year (20)=510, minus 4 weeks vacation a year(40 days)= 470, minus another 10 sick/personal days per year (20) = 450 total work days in 25 months. Divide that into 1.8 million quarters and I get 4000 quarters PER DAY!
Now maybe my math is off slightly. If so, please tell me. But how does someone even approach taking that many quarters by the handful without anyone noticing?? Three rolls of quarters in my pocket shifts my pants slightly off my waist. It is not physically possible for one person to do this crime. And where was the budget checks and balance? We can misplace $230,000 per year and have it go unnoticed for 2 years? C’mon. Is there any further investigation by authorities? Who pursues a crime like this? Please don’t tell me our village council or our financial advisory committee….
Seems to me that this is a totally inept prosecutor or very little experience to basically let this thief walk. No jail time is a joke. Do you really think this money is going to be repaid after his probation is up? Hopefully the IRS goes after him to tax his ill gotten gains. One more thing just what did he do with the money ,no one is saying.
jjj, I firmly believe he doesn’t have all that money and never took it all.
Maybe he got a light sentence because he gave them infomation on other criminal activity.
I suspect that during the course of the investigation, it became evident that others were helping themselves to the coins. Whether Rica himself provided this information or not, it might be a case of the prosecutor wanting to keep this additional thievery out of the public domain as it would certainly have surfaced had Rica gone to trial. This was probably the crux of the no-jailtime plea deal. Even if Rica was the only thief, a trial would have brought up a lot of information about supervisors not carrying out written control procedures.
Prosecutors and Judges are political appointees. They are not accountable to voters and taxpayers.
#6 DING DING DING collect your prize. Unfortunately, it is very likely that we still have a few thieves on the payroll over on Maple St (and not just in the figurative sense of the word which was a given regardless).
jjj if he didn’t steal the money or have the money why did he admit to it.
this week more will come out. hahahhehehe.
Hay Hahahheehe what are you in the prosecutors office that you have this information or you just throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks.
hey the man has a family. I would not like to see him in jail for a long time. but a week in sing sing would be nice. he would shit right in his boomer’s.
I’m growing very weary of our mayor’s my dog ate my homework excuses there seems to be one every time an employee screws up lately
The new VM will smell the BS very quickly I think. Time to clean house.
how com it says dell rica on his brother’s truck. it should say just rica. any one know.
hummmmmmmm,
It should be publicized that to this day the Village of Ridgewood continues to disregard the NJ state policy requiring cash/coins to be deposited into the bank within 48 hours of collection.
Additionally, it should be made public that “the coin thief” is currently working as a plumber for his brother’s plumbing business, Rica & Sons and is in and out of people’s homes in Ridgewood and surrounding areas, presenting him with continuous and ample opportunity to steal. It should be noted that we will hold Mr. Molinelli personally responsible for any future criminal activity of Tom Rica, as a result of Mr. Molinelli’s pansy, unprecedented scam letting Mr. Rica escape jail sentence for his heist of one half million to one million dollars from the citizens of Ridgewood. What a pathetic unjustice for the taxpayers of Ridgewood. And yes, we all know the political connections Mr. Rica has, which gave him this sweetheart deal. They will all be made public shortly. Mr. Molinelli should resign as a result of how he handled this case. Hopefully he cannot sleep at night!