Ironworkers member gets 4 years in prison

RICHARD RITCHIE, who was a rising member of Ironworkers Local 401, was sentenced yesterday to four years in federal prison.

"I'm not an animal, and I'm not a thug," Ritchie, 46, told U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson.

In December, Ritchie pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, violent crime in aid of racketeering and extortion.

In June 2010, Ritchie was part of a group of Ironworkers who came out of a car and attacked nonunion workers in a King of Prussia Mall parking lot. The nonunion workers were building a Toys "R" Us store across from the mall. In the attack, two nonunion workers were hit with baseball bats by Ironworkers members.

Yesterday, Ritchie told the judge: "I never used a baseball bat personally or any weapon."

Ritchie's attorney, Jack McMahon, said afterward that other union members who came out of the car had the bats and Ritchie knew there were bats in the car.

Ritchie had pleaded guilty in state court in Montgomery County in March 2011 to conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person in that attack and received a probationary sentence.

In the federal case, Ritchie also pleaded to his participation in two other incidents. He smashed anchor bolts at a Merion golf course in December 2009, causing about $25,000 in damage. Baylson yesterday ordered him to pay restitution in that amount.

And Ritchie pleaded guilty to extorting a nonunion contractor, A.P. Construction, in 2012, by threatening the contractor with violence and destruction of property if the contractor refused to hire union ironworkers.

In all, 12 members of the Ironworkers union were charged federally last year. They were accused of threatening, vandalizing or assaulting nonunion workers or construction sites in an effort to get contractors to hire union Ironworkers on job sites.

Nine defendants who have pleaded guilty in the case have previously been sentenced.

Two others still face sentencing. Former business agent Christopher Prophet is expected to be sentenced today.

And the union's former longtime head, Joseph Dougherty, 73, who was the lone defendant to take his case to trial and was convicted by a jury in January of racketeering conspiracy, arson and extortion, is expected to be sentenced next month.

Ritchie's sentence was negotiated between his attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Livermore and accepted by the judge yesterday. Ritchie is to begin his prison sentence July 17. After prison, he is to serve three years' supervised release.