A long, long time has passed since the former Revere public library librarian Robert Rice, Jr. left his position under a cloud of suspicion.
Now comes an indictment – 21 counts – by a Suffolk County grand jury alleging that he embezzled money, stole things, and on and on and on.
There were many members of the city government who believed that Rice was not performing his job as he was required by law to do.
These people had pushed the mayor to take some action.
Exactly what the mayor did is not officially known.
The purchasing agent and other financial departments discovered what Rice was apparently doing and made efforts to report it to the proper authorities.
The Revere Police investigation by Captain Dennis Collier and the rest of the detective unit into allegations made about the librarian was thorough, patient and substantial.
This was excellent police work well done.
Now comes the indictment. It looks bad for the former librarian.
The indictment doesn’t read very well or speak very well about him. But we’d like to remind our readers that an indictment is not a conviction.
He will shortly have his day in court – and then it will be up to a jury of his peers to decide on his innocence or his guilt.
Then this city and its library can move forward, truly.
