A Stone County man will return to the Arkansas Department of Corrections after entering an Alford plea to a charge of attempted statutory sodomy.  Forty-two-year-old Fred Ritchey of Crane had also originally faced attempted statutory rape charges.  The charges filed in 2011 involved two teenage girls. Prosecuting Attorney Matt Selby says Ritchey’s trial was set to begin Thursday when he entered the plea Wednesday night…

Ritchey to Return to Prison in Arkansas – Sally Kaucher

Selby says that at the time they filed charges, Ritchey was on parole from Arkansas for a 2005 bank robbery conviction out of Boone County.  Because the maximum sentence in Stone County would have been four years, they made the decision to offer an agreement to return him to Arkansas, where he has 5 to 6 years remaining on a 12-year sentence.