HUNTSVILLE – A federal judge today sentenced a Florence man to five months in prison for assaulting a former girlfriend living on Redstone Arsenal, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
A federal jury in April convicted RONNIE CHRISTOPHER RICKS, 46, on one count of interstate domestic violence for coming into the U.S. government’s special territorial jurisdiction of Redstone Arsenal and striking his former girlfriend with his fists on Aug. 5, 2015. U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala sentenced him to the five months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Ricks already is in custody.
According to government documents, the assault occurred as follows:
Ricks’ former girlfriend was a U.S. Army non-commissioned officer living on Redstone Arsenal last year. On Aug. 5, Ricks showed up at her residence as an Army officer arrived to pick up his daughter, who Ricks’ victim was babysitting. Ricks began cursing and swung a fist at the officer. When Ricks former girlfriend stepped between the two men, Ricks threw her to the ground, struck her in the face with his fists and dragged her along the ground.
The Redstone Arsenal Police investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney David Estes is prosecuting.
