Marty Rickey pleads guilty to burglary, exploitation of elderly

Six months after being acquitted of charges relating to a three-state crime spree, a Racine man today pleaded guilty to separate charges of burglary and the financial exploitation of an elderly person.

Marty W. Rickey, 33, will be sentenced later this year on charges of first-degree burglary and financial exploitation of an elderly person. The charges were filed in Newton County but heard in Jasper County today on a change of venue.

“We will be asking for 10 years in prison,” said Newton County Prosecutor Jacob Skouby, noting it was the maximum allowed under the plea deal.

A third charge of first-degree elder abuse was dismissed as part of the agreement.

Rickey was arrested earlier this year after he burglarized the home of an elderly Newton County man and after he attempted to swindle an elderly woman south of Joplin in two separate incidents with two separate victims.

Rickey still faces three separate felony charges of financial exploitation of an elderly person in Jasper County. He also is charged in Cherokee County with felony kidnapping, felony aggravated robbery, felony aggravated burglary and misdemeanor theft in a November 2007 incident in rural Baxter Springs, Kan.

Rickey last year was acquitted by a McDonald County jury of burglary, robbery and felonious restraint charges he faced from three years ago in Newton County. He was accused of accompanying his brother, James D. Rickey, 37, and John B. Gaston, 25, both of Joplin, in forcing their way into a woman’s home west of Neosho and robbing her of jewelry. He also was accused of invading the home of an elderly woman on the south side of Joplin and taking her purse, cell phone, jewelry and coins.