Plymouth man sentenced for sexual texting

Youth basketball coach who pleaded guilty to sending lewd messages was ordered to have no contact with children.

By Pat Pheifer, Star Tribune

Last update: August 10, 2007 - 11:18 PM

Matthew Ricker has been involved in youth sports since he was a teenager, as a player, assistant basketball coach and avid spectator.

Ramsey County District Judge M. Michael Monahan put an end to all that on Friday when he ordered Ricker to have no contact with children under 18 for the next 10 years.

Ricker, 31, of Plymouth, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated harassment. He admitted in the St. Paul courtroom that he sent sexually explicit cell phone text messages to three basketball players at Hill-Murray High School in Maplewood. He was an assistant boys' basketball coach at the school in the 2006-07 season.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators learned May 31 that between Jan. 1 and May 31, Ricker sent many text messages to two 16-year-old boys and a 17-year-old boy. He also offered one boy $500 for oral sex. All three boys said Ricker later offered them $200 to delete the messages.

The boys told police they asked Ricker to stop sending messages, saying they felt harassed and threatened, the complaint said. But he continued. The boys reported the messages to their parents, who contacted school officials and police. Other allegations later surfaced in Orono and Roseville.

Ricker was arrested June 5 when the boys' parents called police to say Ricker was at Midway Stadium in St. Paul watching the Hill-Murray baseball team for which the three boys played. He was charged June 6 with three counts of aggravated harassment and one of hiring a minor to engage in prostitution.

Ricker contracted with Hill-Murray to help coach boys' basketball in the 2006-07 season. He also was involved in the Minnesota Magic Amateur Athletic Union basketball program and served as an assistant at several metro-area high schools, usually for one-season stints.

Hill-Murray President Joseph Peschges said in June that a background check showed that Ricker had "a clean slate."

After his arrest, Ricker admitted to police that some of his messages were inappropriate and blamed his behavior on his Tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, the complaint said. Tourette's can cause involuntary vocalizations, including profane outbursts.

In court Friday, dressed in a red polo shirt and baggy black pants, Ricker had no such outbursts. He hung his head and quietly answered "yes" to questions from his attorney, Rick Mattox, and Judge Monahan.

Neither Mattox nor Ricker had any comment after the court hearing Friday.

Maplewood police Lt. Dave Kvam said Friday that one of the conditions of Ricker's plea was that he have no contact with children for 10 years.

"One of our interests was certainly to make sure that he had a reduced opportunity to further victimize other kids," Kvam said. "That sentence hopefully will accomplish that."

Pat Pheifer • 651-298-1551 • ppheifer@startribune.com