Pawtucket cop remains held at
ACI on rape accusations
By Amanda Milkovits
WARWICK, R.I. -- An
ex-Pawtucket police officer remains held without bail on charges of raping and
assaulting a girlfriend during an argument at his condominium in North
Smithfield last November.
Stephen R. Ricco, 40, rubbed
his forehead and shook his head at times as the 39-year-old woman testified
during his bail hearing at Kent District Court on Monday afternoon.
The only thing that his lawyer
and the prosecutor agreed on was that Ricco and his now ex-girlfriend got into
a fight in the early hours of Nov. 28.
A young woman whose parents
live in the neighboring condo told Judge Anthony Capraro that she heard a loud
argument and a woman saying, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"
A property manager at the High
Rocks mill building testified that she heard the couple arguing that morning,
and that the woman asked her to call the police. But, she said, the woman left
with Ricco before she could call.
(The Journal does not identify
alleged victims of sexual assault.)
Ricco was arrested by North
Smithfield police on Thanksgiving, hours after the woman reported being
assaulted, and he's been held at the Adult Correctional Institutions since
then. Ricco is charged with felony domestic violence charges of rape and
strangling, as well as misdemeanor charges of domestic disorderly conduct and
simple assault.
It was the second time in a
year that Ricco had been accused of assaulting a woman, which Assistant
Attorney General Maureen Keough pointed out as she asked for him to be held.
Ricco was suspended from the
Pawtucket police force in February and later resigned after he was accused of
assaulting a different girlfriend while on duty -- including drawing his
service weapon and telling her to kill him. A charge of domestic assault was
dismissed, and Ricco pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct.
Ricco also is married; his wife
did not attend the hearing.
His lawyer, David Gentile of
Providence, brought up Ricco's past police service and his wife as a reason to
release him on low bail. Gentile said later that he believed Ricco had
completed his anger management counseling from the case last February.
"He poses no threat to the
public," Gentile said, adding that a no-contact order should be in effect.
Gentile attacked the
credibility of Ricco's girlfriend, who said they had dated "on and
off" for a year and a half.
She testified that she was
afraid of Ricco that night, that he suddenly became angry and attacked her in
his condo.
When asked repeatedly by Keough
and Gentile about why she didn't call 911 or just leave when she had the
opportunity, the woman admitted that she was afraid to get Ricco in trouble.
His disorderly conduct charge had been filed only seven month earlier and would
be destroyed if he stayed out of trouble.
And, she said, "I love
him."
The woman testified that she'd
met Ricco when he was a police officer, and he responded to a call at her home
in Pawtucket.
They'd broken up eventually,
but reconciled in the few days before Thanksgiving. The night before the
holiday, he picked her up from her waitressing job and they went out to a
tavern in North Smithfield and then a nearby Denny's. His mood changed, she
said, and he began slamming the table -- enough to attract attention from other
customers and employees.
She said she asked Ricco
numerous times to take her home. Instead, she said, he punched her in the head
as he drove her to his apartment, where they got into an argument that turned
violent, she said. Ricco grabbed her around the neck, and she told him she
couldn't breathe. 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 wife, who hung up on her.
The woman said that Ricco
overheard the conversation and grabbed 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. He told her not to call the police.
She said she showered and
called police in Pawtucket, where she lives, who referred her to the North
Smithfield police. Ricco was arrested later on Thanksgiving.
Ricco is held pending a bail
review on March 27.
