Mayor and Chief of Police Urged to Carry Out Background Checks on Circus Performers as New Pedophile Case Emerges

For Immediate Release:
June 24, 2004

Contact:
Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382

Norfolk, V.A.- This morning, PETA sent letters to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Chief of Police Jack F. Harris, urging them to conduct background checks on employees of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus before it comes to Phoenix. PETA’s request was spurred by last month’s arrest on child pornography charges of Thomas Allen Riccio, a clown performing with Ringling Bros. under the name of "Spanky." Ringling is scheduled to arrive in Phoenix next week. Riccio isn’t the first Ringling employee to be arrested for serious crimes.

Circuses often hire people who are on the move or have not been able to hold down a permanent job. PETA has documented instances of circuses’ having hired murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molesters, and animal abusers. Examples of Ringling circus employees who have been charged with serious crimes in the past few years include an acrobat who was arrested on charges of sexual battery against a 16-year-old girl; an employee who, previously convicted of aggravated burglary and drug abuse, was arrested after he allegedly mugged a woman at knifepoint; an employee and convicted murderer who was arrested in connection with two break-ins and theft at a liquor store; and an employee who was arrested on a fugitive-from-justice warrant that listed a charge of counterfeiting.

In February 2004, a ringmaster with Circus Spectacular was arrested on charges of first-degree child molestation. In 2001, a Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus clown was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage assistant. And in 1993, a Shrine Circus clown was arrested on charges of molesting three girls whom he had met at the circus. Ringling’s parent company, Feld Entertainment, never responded to PETA’s 2000 letter urging the circus to perform criminal background checks on employees.

"The ‘town without a zip code’ could also be called the ‘town without a penal code,’ given the way that circuses attract shady characters," says Captive Exotic Animal Specialist Lisa Wathne. "Just as animal protectionists are worried about what Ringling employees do to animals, so should parents be worried about what they might do to children."

PETA’s letter to Mayor Gordon follows. For more information about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, please visit Circuses.com.

June 24, 2004

The Honorable Phil Gordon
Mayor of Phoenix
Phoenix City Hall
200 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Dear Mayor Gordon:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a nonprofit organization with more than 800,000 members and supporters dedicated to the protection of animals. We are writing to bring to your attention a serious criminal incident involving a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus employee and to suggest that the city of Phoenix require criminal background checks of circus employees as a condition of any permits required to appear in your city. For example, in an effort to protect the public from dangerous offenders, Cedarburg, Wis., requires transient businesses or entertainment enterprises to submit a list of employees and their driver’s license numbers for background checks as part of the permit process.

Thomas Allen Riccio, a circus clown performing under the name "Spanky" with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, was recently arrested in Fayetteville, N.C., and charged with 10 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Authorities allegedly found 2,000 pictures on Riccio’s computer, which was kept in his room on the circus train, of child pornography that depicted girls as young as 5 years old engaged in sexual activity with adults. Albert Fitchett Jr., an agent with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stated, "This man’s profession as Spanky the clown brought him into contact with hundreds of families. Behind the clown nose, however, this man appears to have been supporting an industry that trades in the exploitation of children."

Circuses pick up transient workers wherever they go and are magnets for the criminal element. PETA has documented numerous instances in which circuses, including Ringling, have hired murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molesters, and animal abusers. We are concerned that circus employees with a propensity for violence may put the community at risk and mistreat the animals in their care.

I would be happy to answer questions or supply additional material. Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Lisa Wathne, Captive Exotic Animal Specialist