Ralph Vickers testifies about getting all $100 bills from Robin Riffe when he sold her two ounces of cocaine in 1985.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Former drug dealers have been called to the witness stand as prosecutors attempt to show the Riffes came in to money in December of 1985, when Ed and Minnie Maurin were found shot to death after withdrawing $8,500 from their Chehalis bank.
Yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court, Ralph Vickers spoke of what he told a detective when he was visited in 1991 in federal prison in Oregon.
Vickers said he recalled selling cocaine to Robin Riffe twice.
Robin Riffe, now deceased, was married to Ricky A. Riffe, who is on trial for the abduction, robbery and murder of the elderly Ethel couple. He and his younger brother John Gregory Riffe became suspects in the early 1990s but he was arrested just last year, shortly after his brother died.
Vickers said he lived in the Yakima area and knew Robin because his brother dated her for a time.
He’s now a car salesman, but ended up serving eight years in prison, he said.
He called himself a wholesaler who had perhaps 10 to 20 people to whom he sold large quantities of cocaine, such as a half kilo or a kilo at a time, he testified.
He recalled meeting his brother and Robin at Longacres racetrack and selling her a half ounce one time. The next time he saw her was at White Pass when he sold her two ounces, he said.
“I think she’d been away from my brother for quite some time,” he said. “I know she’d lost a lot of weight.”
She was with a man he’d never seen before and didn’t think he would recognize if he saw him again, according to Vickers.
Vickers was about 35 at the time, and he recalled being paid with 22 $100 bills, he said. He remembered it crossing his mind that could be something undercover cops might use, he said.
When he met with detectives in prison in 1991, according to his statement, he recalled a white car, but didn’t know what model or make, he said.
Earlier this week, prosecutors questioned another person who admitted to dealing drugs back in the mid-1980s.
Dora Flynn took the witness stand on Monday and told of mainly selling marijuana back then, but also cocaine and meth, which she admitted she also used.
She knew Robin, but knew Ricky Riffe better, according to Flynn.
Flynn recalled a time when she bought a chain necklace from Robin, because, she thought, they needed money for their light bill.
It was early in 1986 when Robin tried to buy a pound of marijuana from her, she said. It would have cost around $2,500, according to Flynn.
“No, I didn’t go through with it, because I didn’t really know Robin that well,” Flynn said.
With prodding from Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, Flynn indicated she was also reluctant because she also wondered if the money came from the Maurins.
Asked if she ever saw a white car at the Riffe’s house, she said one time, she thought a Chevrolet.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter