Man steals $460,000 from New York town — in quarters

Maybe now he’ll “change” his criminal ways. A public-works inspector pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing $460,000 from a New Jersey village — in quarters. Prosecutors said that over the course of two years, Thomas Rica literally stuffed his pockets with coins from the Village of Ridgewood’s meter-collection room, a total of more than 1.8 million quarters. “We’re dealing with the theft of quarters over a period of a couple of years,” assistant prosecutor Daniel Keitel, told the court. “It’s difficult to calculate exactly how many quarters were stolen when you’re dealing with millions of quarters over a few years.”