Reader says Had this been a case of an employee stealing a similar amount from a bank, or some other private concern, you can rest assured that there would have been a far more vigorous investigation and prosecution, not to mention a sentence of prison time.
Having an understanding about how such things work, I doubt that the police/prosecutor obtained much from him about how much he actually stole, and what he did with it. This would include how he converted literally mountains of quarters into spendable cash. Try buying a jet-ski with bags of quarters! Whenever a plea deal is negotiated, the key word is negotiated. If the guy and his lawyer agreed to plead guilty, then you can be absolutely certain that they will agree to a monetary amount that was significantly less than that which was actually stolen. Any details about how the scheme was perpetrated are simply not delved into, as the plea of guilt deal kind of sets the agenda and shuts everything else down. Cops and prosecutors always aim for the guilty plea deal as it avoids the costs and unpredictability of a trial. Of course, the prosecutor is going to dispute this latest finding as it tends to make him look foolish. Bottom line, folks, this is a case of public money being stolen. Had this been a case of an employee stealing a similar amount from a bank, or some other private concern, then you can rest assured that there would have been a far more vigorous investigation and prosecution, not to mention a sentence of prison time. I agree with others in that I suspect a whole lot of politics also went into this prosecution to avoid exposing a some much lesser accomplices and quite obviously, some terrible internal security and accounting controls.
” I agree with others in that I suspect a whole lot of politics also went into this prosecution to avoid exposing a some much lesser accomplices” And why would that be? If there were lesser accomplices why would they be afforded political protection? The cover up is worse then the crime.
We will never know how Rica did this….no way he did this by himself.
Well if he did do this alone I would like to know how he did it and if he had an accomplice I like to know why this accomplice was discovered during the investigation. I would also like to know why there is such a differences in the amounts from one investigation to the another. Maybe the will do a min series or one of our Ridgewood authors will write a book about it.
Perhaps “accomplices” is too narrow a description. If I could re-write this piece, I would not use “accomplices”, but rather other employees, whose actions ranged from not doing their job, to outright stealing (albeit on a much lesser scale). I have no doubt that this coin room was viewed as a place of petty cash, where little to no accounting was effectively maintained. It was a place where handfuls of the stuff could be used for all kinds of incidental expenses, such as coffees and meals. The whole process of old-style coin meters that didn’t record how much they took in made this possible. Basically, the amount of money that was “supposed” to be in the coin room was whatever was either in there, or you wanted it to be. The meters didn’t leave an audit trail whereby they collectively would record the amount that should be in the coin room. The only reason Rica was busted is because he absolutely went completely overboard with his stealing. The reason why the punishment was so ineffectual was because had it gone to trial, his lawyer would bring up the whole coin room issue and a whole lot of employees would be exposed, and management would have been shown to be thoroughly incompetent in their oversight. What couldn’t be allowed to come out was the whole abuse of the coin room, which no matter how you try to rationalize it, is nothing less than Village officials stealing public money.
The “great coin caper” book is in production, now—– all that is needed is a good co-author to help in its publication and get a fair payment.
Oh well, I’m so busy on several other stories of interest I’ll need some help.
Probably went on this way for decades…..
what about some of his ( worker ) friends had to know some thing, or see some thing . he had bank papers next to the lamp, and coins all around. what about all the things he just bought and did, you would think how can he pay for all this on 85 grand. I say bull , others new and just said zip . well his big head got him caught . and for top managers should be fired. other workers told up top watch out for this guy but they looked the other way, why I don’t know . you think about it. tom must of had real dirt on people, what else would it be. the problem we have is we have lap dogs in this town. and the upper managers like that and take care of those who suck up to them. but the rest of the workers know just who they are, and they will get it in the end. what comes around goes around. so wake up brown nose. yeah you.
Well it looked like you had some information “info man” why didn’t you say anything?
Man, would I love to know the entire story, detail by detail, decade by decade. As a property tax payer, I’m entitled to at least get some entertainment out of it.
As for “the accomplice,” c’mon. If it wasn’t at least a dozen people, I’d be very surprised. Some cops, some not. A pile-of-quarters slush fund on a nice table, like the not-well-hidden jar or box of coins and small bills used as petty cash in many a kitchen (at least in movies and on TV; I’ve never known anybody who actually did that).
If every high school kid can be given a computer, every Ridgewood resident should be given a free iphone if that’s the only way we’ll be allowed to park in our own town.
Everyone is on the take but YOU!
Why does he have to pay only half in restitution? He gets to keep the other half?
It is clear that others were aware and may have participated. All those with access should be wuestioned. Maybe the department can be “reorganized” and jobs eliminated.
I would keep an eye on the senior citizens after all the have their functions right across from the coin room. You know how they are with the sugar packets at a restaurant.
The impression I get out of all of this, is that Rica was the only person who was flat-out stealing in the pure sense of the word. Although still stealing by definition, the other shrinkage was probably all down to a sense of entitlement by certain other employees who felt it was perfectly acceptable for the Village to pay for their coffees, lunches, etc. I believe that this was an ingrained practice, going back years, probably unofficially sanctioned by certain senior officials. I believe it was this aspect that made the prosecution of Rica very tricky.
You know, I came to Ridgewood almost 20 years ago, and I naively thought that it was probably above all this kind of crap that so often affects municipalities of a lower class standing. I admit that this was naive. I thought the Village was somehow a reflection of the general high levels of sophistication of its residents. Please stop laughing. I really did. Coin Boy and its wider story is just the latest chapter in my utter disgust at municipal government. Who remembers the on-duty cop who was busted for having sex with an under-age girl at the back of Starbucks? Not only did he not go to jail, but he kept his job! That was real am-I-living-in-an-alternate-universe result.
The more I study New Jersey’s enormous history of municipal government issues of corruption, nepotism, laziness, cronyism, etc., it makes for extremely depressing reading. I now think that I had Ridgewood completely the wrong way around, and that it’s actually the perfect place to screw the taxpayers. Why? Because Ridgewood types are completely oblivious to matters of local government, being caught up in their stressful Wall St jobs, their busy social lives, and best of all, the transient nature in which they live here just for the school years.
For those who don’t easily sport sarcasm, the last bit is just that.
You know folks, let’s just laugh it off at our next cocktail party. Just one bad apple, right? This is a great town. You know, they actually come round the back and pick up my garbage. What a town!
The education of Declan.
Welcome to Lower Bergen County! The new diving line is Linwood Avenue.
” Municipalities of a lower class standing”?
Well how grand are we……..asshole and a blowhard……
Your long winded comments are old and tiresome…..govern yourself accordingly.