A former Pawtucket police
officer who resigned after allegations of assaulting a girlfriend while on duty
has been charged with raping and trying to strangle another girlfriend at his
apartment in North Smithfield.
Stephen Ricco, 40, is being
held without bail after a Pawtucket woman accused him of attacking, raping and
biting her during a violent argument in the early hours of Thanksgiving.
When neighbors at the High
Rocks mill building heard the argument and banged on the walls, Ricco told her
not to answer the door if the police arrived, according to an affidavit. When
he finally drove her home, Ricco ordered her not to call the police, the
affidavit said.
She didn’t call — she walked
into the North Smithfield police station that day. Ricco was arrested Thursday
and arraigned Friday on felony domestic violence charges of rape and
strangling, as well as misdemeanor charges of domestic disorderly conduct and
simple assault.
North Smithfield police didn’t
return a call about the case on Tuesday, but details are revealed in affidavits
accompanying search warrants written by Detective Russell Ridge III.
The police seized anabolic
steroids, pills and unopened syringes, among other items, from Ricco’s apartment
in the building at 1 Tupperware Drive.
The woman told the police that
Ricco was her “on-and-off boyfriend.” (The Journal does not identify alleged
victims of sexual assault.)
The woman told the police that
Ricco picked her up from her job in Pawtucket late Wednesday night, brought her
to her apartment to change clothes, and then drove them to a tavern in North
Smithfield for drinks.
After 1 a.m., they went to
Denny’s restaurant in North Smithfield, where she said Ricco started to slam
things on the table. That was when she decided she wanted to go home.
She told the police that she
asked Ricco numerous times to take her home. Instead, he drove her to his
apartment, where they got into an argument that turned violent, the affidavit
said. “Ricco began to choke her with his hands around her neck, causing her to
be unable to breath(e),” the affidavit said. When the neighbors banged on the
walls, Ricco released her and shut off the lights, telling her not to answer
the door.
The woman said she went into
the upstairs bathroom and called Ricco’s ex-wife, telling her she was scared.
She said the ex-wife hung up on her.
The woman said that Ricco
overheard the conversation and attacked her again — this time, holding her down
in the bedroom, biting her face and raping her, the affidavit said.
The woman said she eventually
persuaded Ricco to take her home.
This is the second time this
year that Ricco has been accused of domestic violence.
Ricco was suspended from the
Pawtucket Police Department in February and later resigned after a girlfriend
accused him of violence — including drawing his service weapon and telling her
to kill him. She obtained a temporary restraining order against him.
Pawtucket police charged Ricco
with domestic assault, which was dismissed. Instead, Ricco pleaded no contest
to disorderly conduct and was told to attend anger-management counseling.
Ricco’s lawyer, former House
Speaker John B. Harwood, didn’t return a call from The Journal on Tuesday
afternoon.
