Richard Rife says he’s paying a high price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Mary Woods II steamboat sank at Jacksonport State Park.
Rife and Paul Morrison were arrested for commercial burglary and criminal mischief after investigators matched tire tread prints at the scene with Rife’s truck.
Rife admits he and Morrison were at the park near Newport the January night the boat sank — but says they stopped before reaching the boat and their footprints in the snow prove it.
They were later cleared when officials determined the boat sank because of a leaky pipe — but Rife says his reputation has suffered and he can’t find a job.