Utah Handyman Charged With Burglary

Prosecutors on Thursday charged a handyman with burglary and theft for allegedly stealing items from the home of a 14-year-old Utah girl who was kidnapped five weeks ago.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said Richard Ricci has not been charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Smart and was not "the sole focus of the investigation" into the girl's disappearance.

Because Ricci, 48, has a long criminal history, he has also been charged with being a habitual criminal, meaning he could go to prison for the rest of his life.

The girl was kidnapped on June 5 at gunpoint from her bedroom in a posh Salt Lake City neighborhood.

Ricci did some odd jobs at the Smart home and was taken into custody on June 14 after police became suspicious about his alibi for the time the girl was kidnapped.

Ricci faces one count of theft for allegedly stealing $3,500 worth of items from the Smart home on June 6, 2001. A search of Ricci's home turned up jewelry, a perfume bottle and a wine glass filled with sea shells that belonged to the Smarts.

In addition, he is charged taking items from second home in the neighborhood where the Smarts lived. Jewelry and about $300 in cash were taken during the night burglary from a bedroom as a resident slept in the room.

Ricci, who worked as a handyman in both homes, admitted to the crimes, authorities said.

Investigators have said Ricci is at the top of their list of potential suspects in Elizabeth's abduction. Ricci is in prison on unrelated parole violations.

Two weeks ago, Ricci said an exhaustive search of his home and belongings by police has turned up nothing.

"I have cooperated fully with the FBI, the police and probation officers," Ricci said in a statement distributed by attorney David K. Smith.

On Wednesday, Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said he received a letter that he suspects may have come from someone with knowledge of his daughter's abduction.

But Smart also said he could not say whether the unsigned letter, which he received Tuesday, was credible.

Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said police were talking to Ed Smart about the letter. Atkinson said Smart gave them a copy after telling reporters about it.

Police have found no trace of Elizabeth, an eighth-grade graduate and accomplished harp player, since the early morning hours of June 5, when a man oddly attired in an English driving cap entered her bedroom carrying a handgun and ordered her out of the house wearing only her red satin pajamas and sneakers.

The abduction was witnessed by Smart's terrified 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, who shared a queen-size bed with the teen and pretended to sleep through the abduction and has provided authorities with their only clues to his identity.

Elizabeth's disappearance has competed with America's ongoing war on terrorism as the top story on most national news programs and a $250,000 reward stands for her safe return, but authorities say they have no clue to her whereabouts and cannot name a suspect.

"We've cast a wide net in this case," Salt Lake City police detective Jay Rhodes said. "Anybody could be responsible, we're not eliminating anybody."