Former Rikers CO Ricardo Walters Gets 203 Years in Prison

Ricard Walters (YouTube)

While I was caught up in the election and digesting the post-election results and Cabinet appointments, I missed a significant update on one of the stories that I have covered on this blog in the past. Some of you may remember Ricardo Walters, the former Rikers CO who was accused of robbing a woman at gunpoint at a bus stop with his service firearm. It then came out that Walters was implicated in numerous kidnappings and rapes in and around his hometown of Hempstead, New York. All of this occurred after he killed someone trying to break into his car (which, for the record, was justified.)

When Walters was charged with the kidnappings and rapes (six counts of kidnapping, five counts of robbery, and four counts of sex abuse, among other charges to be exact), I had a feeling that the prosecution was going to win their case. It seems harder to convict those in law enforcement and on top of that Walters faced serious charges (which are often pleaded down.) But with DNA evidence and a confident investigator (one detective said, "The bottom line is: this guy, he's a predator") a conviction seemed to be the next step. And it was.

Two days ago Walters was sentenced to 203 years after being convicted of first-degree rape, four counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, four counts of first-degree sexual abuse, kidnapping and second-degree attempted kidnapping. The judge minced no words during the sentencing, castigating the former corrections officer for invoking the Lord's name in the rapist's statement: "When I hear you invoke a higher power, I'm disgusted," McCormack said. "What higher power was [your victim] going to turn to when you had her in the back of that alley, raping and sodomizing her?"

Walters will now be in prison for the rest of his life and hopefully the women he victimized have found peace since the gruesome attacks. Kudos to the women who had to relive their experiences on the stand to make sure that their attacker sees justice. Something smelled fishy from the report of the robbery, and it turns out that this guy was even worse than a gunpoint robber. It's unbelievable that this man was able to work for the DOC for more than a decade and be able to do something as horrific as this. Justice has been served and Walters will never be able to terrorize another innocent person again.