2 arresting officers pleased Richey is in prison again

"Welcome back. Your [sic] now back where you belong" was written inside what appeared at first glance to be a "thank you" card sent last month to Richey's cell in Saughton Prison in Edinburgh where he is awaiting trial on charges he assaulted a 63-year-old man. The decorative note was signed by Roy Sargent and Steve Stechschulte and bore the return address of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 1035 Heritage Trail, Ottawa. Mr. Sargent is a deputy with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office who at one point recounted that Richey had threatened to kill then-assistant prosecutor and now Common Pleas Judge Randall Basinger, a threat Richey later admitting making. Mr. Stechschulte, a former deputy sheriff now working as a lieutenant with the Columbus Grove Police Department, was one of Richey's arresting officers. Inside the card, postmarked Aug. 21 from Lima, was a copy of an old newspaper photograph of a smiling Richey as he was led out of the courtroom after being sentenced to death for the 1986 arson death of 2-year-old Cynthia Collins of Columbus Grove.

The clipping with the message 'ARE YOU STILL SMILING????????' Zoom | Photo Reprints

Below it was typed, "ARE YOU STILL SMILING????????" Lieutenant Stechschulte said he is angry and bitter over Richey's release and blasted what he feels has been biased media coverage in Richey's favor, including coverage of this card. "He beat up a 60-some-year-old man, and we turned him loose to go do that," he said. "How would you feel if he beat up your dad? "I investigated the case with Roy," he said. "We knew the kind of person he is. He's a full-blooded killer who can't control his temper when he gets mad.'' Richey, 44, was convicted of aggravated murder for setting the apartment fire that killed the child whom he called "Scootie." He spent 21 1/2 years in Ohio prisons, most of it on death row, but a federal appeals court eventually criticized the arson evidence used at his trial and overturned his conviction and sentence. Richey told Deadline News in Edinburgh that he'd stuck the note to the wall of his cell. "The two cops who signed the card were the arresting officers in the case," he angrily said. "They hid evidence from the very start. I couldn't care what they think. .•.•. I hope they rot in hell." At trial, the prosecution had maintained that a jealous Richey had set the fire to kill a former girlfriend and her new lover but inadvertently killed young Cynthia Collins in the apartment above. Faced with a new trial using weaker evidence, the state agreed to a plea bargain with Richey that allowed him to walk away a free man in January based on time already served on lesser charges of attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and breaking and entering. The son of an American serviceman and a Scottish woman, Richey holds dual citizenship. He returned to a celebrity's welcome in Scotland, where he had been dubbed the "Death Row Scot." Since then, his drinking, gambling, suicide threats, and other exploits have been fodder for the tabloids. Money earned from media deals, estimated at about $80,000, is gone. The former U.S. Marine was unemployed and collecting the U.K. equivalent of welfare when he was rearrested in August for allegedly beating Ian McCall severely a month earlier. He has been denied bail, and authorities still have about three months left in which to try him on a charge of assault to severe injury under the remand order in the High Court in Edinburgh. "People should just leave him to rot in jail, where he needs to be," Lieutenant Stechschulte said. "He wouldn't know what to do with himself. He loves what [reporters] are doing for him, and it's outrageous." Deputy Sargent could not be reached for comment. Putnam Sheriff Jim Beutler said he hadn't seen the letter but had heard about it. "That letter more than likely was sent on personal feelings," he said. "I can't comment on someone's personal feelings or what they do in their personal lives. I know they were deeply involved in that case and the investigation. "When he got sent to Scotland, I felt he was very likely to re-offend, and he's done exactly that," he said. "He is certainly a risk to society. I only hope that the government and judicial system handle it appropriately." Although the letter bore the return address of the sheriff's office, he said he had no indication the letter was mailed from there. If he'd been asked, he said he probably wouldn't have signed it. "For someone to send a card - I can't stop or prevent that," he said. "They do have constitutional rights, and they exercised their freedom of speech." Karen Torley, Richey's former fiancee from Glasgow, Scotland, who helped to ignite international interest in Richey's case, has talked with Richey since his most recent imprisonment but not in recent weeks. She immediately recognized the names in the letter. "It's appalling that people who are professionals would do something like that," she said. "They shouldn't be treating cases personally, and obviously they have," she said. "They've overstepped the mark and should be punished. They're just showing what people were saying all along, that these people were prejudiced against Kenny." Contact Jim Provance at:
"This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!" ,
or 614-221-0496. 

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