Charges against teacher on hold

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

Criminal fraud charges against Community College of Southern Nevada teacher and counselor Vince Ricci will be put on hold for a year as he pays restitution, according to the attorney general's office.

Ricci was ordered by a North Las Vegas Justice Court judge during an arraignment Tuesday to serve 50 hours of community service and pay $1,695 to the community college in connection to a course in which enrollment numbers were exaggerated.

Ricci, an Italian language teacher, remains at CCSN as a counselor. The case alleges that to meet attendance requirements, Ricci kept students on his roster who had never attended his class. Prosecutors believe Ricci inflated the class roster to keep his classes from being dropped. He made $1,695 per course.

The amount he made for the courses in question totaled $10,125, according to the attorney general's office. But in Tuesday's court action Ricci was ordered to pay for one class only.

"I think the difficult task is proving that the college would have not held those classes had they known the actual number of students who attended," said Brian Kunzi, a senior deputy attorney general.

The attorney general's office filed charges against Ricci in October on four counts of felony theft by false pretenses and one count of false reporting from a public officer, a gross misdemeanor.

The new plea agreement allows the charges to be reduced to a misdemeanor in one year if Ricci fulfills his court-ordered restitution, Kunzi said.

"It's important to note that these charges have not gone away," Kunzi said.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick said he is unhappy with the outcome, saying it was close to "selling grades" because Ricci was paid by the college and gave students grades despite the fact that they didn't attend his courses.

"That's the most contemptable thing I think a professor can be involved in," Kirkpatrick said.

Ron Meek, the Henderson provost who initiated the Ricci investigation for CCSN also expressed disappointment.

"I have to say that as the investigating officer on the case, I am surprised by the outcome," Meek said. "But I have every faith that our legal system did the right thing."

It was unknown whether Ricci's case will be handled internally. Ron Remington, CCSN's new president could not be reached for comment.

Michael Cristalli, Ricci's attorney said the case did not reflect that Ricci wanted to keep the Italian language program alive.