May 10th 2003 was a very busy day for Sergeant Randall Richey. During the morning, Colonel Duncan called to inform Randall he was promoted from Sgt. to Lt, assigned as Bureau Chief at POST Basic Training, effective immediately. Good news for any Sergeant.
Instead of retiring to the coffee shop to celebrate, Randall took the call then went back to what he had been working on for the past few days; considering the Amber Alert that had been activated in Minnesota. The original alert was not activated in Utah, however the Minn. authorities did say the suspect had ties in both North carolina and Provo, Utah.
Eleven-year-old Cindy Jeanette Bruno had apparently been abducted by a 21-year-old man named Jimenez Andrade. Andrade was known by Cindy's family, and was reported to be driving a green van.
The girl's safe recovery was made possible when Richey spotted a green van traveling on U.S. 40 near Park City. Richey had just received a Utah AMBER Alert in his car's laptop computer and was checking the time it would take to travel from St. Cloud to Provo.
Sgt Richey noticed the green minivan had out of state plates. After matching the license plate number, Richey followed the van for ten miles while preparing backup for a high-risk traffic stop.
A trooper east of Richey set up a roadblock with spikes, just in case the driver tried to flee or drive through the roadblock.
The subject pulled his van over when ordered, without incident.
Trooper Richey said the girl appeared clean and healthy, and did not seem to fear Andrade. It also appeared to Richey that the two knew each other.
Sgt. Richey said the suspect looked nervous but did not appear to understand how serious his position was."
A fine job, Lieutenant Richey!