Hero’s Welcome for Newly Freed Man : Vindication: Falsely jailed in Texas, Rickey Dale Thomas enjoys jubilant homecoming.

Hey, Rickey Dale Thomas, you’re finally back in San Diego after almost an entire year of false incarceration in a no-name Texas jail cell. You’ve got your jubilant family and friends screaming your name, your 2-year-old daughter, Simone, cradled lovingly in your arms.

So, what are you gonna do?

“I’m going to Sea World,” came the response from the skinny man basking in the light of television cameras. “I’m going to take my little daughter to see the fish.”

With those words, uttered moments after he stepped off a plane at Lindbergh Field on Friday, the 29-year-old Chula Vista man whose case inspired an outpouring of community support and sympathy arrived back home to a hero’s welcome--back to a world of free thought and free decisions.

Gone are the days of slumming in some dusty central Texas jail cell for a crime he didn’t commit. Now history is the monotonous diet of baloney sandwiches, corn dogs and ravioli that caused him to drop 30 pounds faster than he would a bad habit.

Thanks to friends and family who came to his aid after he was falsely charged with a purse-snatching in little Sulphur Springs, Tex., Thomas was finally back home, free at last.

“I have to admit, when the plane touched down in San Diego, it felt good,” he said. “This big smile came to my face. I would just like to thank everybody for all that you’ve done for me. It feels so good to be back. And you all know that I wouldn’t be here without you. I survived because of the three F’s--friends, family and freedom.”

Thomas had been charged in the 1989 purse snatching of an 89-year-old Texas woman. Trouble was, at the time of the crime he was back home in Chula Vista flipping burgers at a local Fuddruckers, where he worked as a chef.

But Texas authorities, who said Thomas had been identified in a photo lineup as one of three men involved in the crime, pressed on with the case. A warrant was issued for Thomas’ arrest. He was returned to Texas to stand trail for a crime that he, his friends and family, insisted he didn’t commit.

Thomas was nonetheless convicted of the crime, thanks to a prosecutor many say was looking more for a notch in his belt than finding justice. Because of the strictness of Texas law involving the robbing of the elderly, he was sentenced to life in prison.

He went to jail as his supporters went to work trying to convince authorities that they had the wrong man.

On Friday, Thomas looked more like an accountant than he did jail inmate, with his light-blue dress slacks and a pen shoved into the breast pocket of his white shirt.

“They did a hell of a job,” he said of the efforts of friends and family to gain his release. “Without them, I would still be back in jail eating baloney sandwiches.”

But Thomas’ feelings were muted on a day in which Los Angeles remained under siege by angry mobs still seething over the verdict in the infamous Rodney King case, in which not-guilty verdicts were returned for four white police officers in the beating of a black motorist.

Because both, Thomas says, were black men wronged by a jury.

“A 12-person jury convicted me, despite all the evidence in the world that I was innocent,” he said. “And I feel bad for what the jury did to Mr. King. And, as a result, a lot of people have been hurt and a lot have died because of what those four police officers did that night. Justice was not done in that trial, either. Look at the tape. You can see it for yourself.”

Christopher Reeber, an attorney who represents Thomas in San Diego, said his client’s case was different than that of King.

“The difference is that this man spent a year in jail for a crime he just didn’t do,” he said. “I think that President Bush should be called in to investigate the justice system in Texas to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Also on hand for Thomas’ return was Chula Vista Mayor Tim Nader. “I can’t say I’ve ever met Rickey Thomas,” he said. “I’m just here to welcome an innocent man back home.”

The gaggle of supporters who met Thomas at noon Friday as he stepped through the Southwest Airline gate had more on their minds. They were ready to P-A-R-T-Y.

They clapped. They applauded. They jumped up and down. Wearing their Rickey shirts bearing Thomas’s countenance behind bars, they even did the chant made famous by the audience on the “Arsenio Hall” show: “Woo, woo, woo, woo!”

Immediately, they thrust a bunch of balloons into Thomas’ hand. And a red rose. And best of all, they rented a white limousine to meet Thomas outside the airport. The plans? According to his sister, Debbie Thomas: “We’re just going to party. We’re going to party here, there and everywhere.”

Walking through the crowded airport--reporters, friends, family and curious onlookers in tow--Thomas was greeted with cheers from passersby. One woman shook his hand. They called out his name: “Yeah, Rickey.”

Thomas said he was just eager to spend some time with his family, become a father again to his daughter. And there was talk of marriage between him and his girlfriend.

And he had some lingering thoughts about Texas, mostly that he will miss some of the men he met in jail--guys like Howard and Zack, and that they will always have a place to stay in San Diego when they’re done doing their time.

But, as for leaving Texas, well, there were no regrets there.

“The state of Texas never has to worry about me ever coming through there again,” he said. “They’ve got a sign there that says, ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’ Well, they sure made a believer out of Rickey Dale Thomas.”

Now that he’s home, there’s talk of a lawsuit against the state of Texas for his treatment there. There’s been mention of a movie deal, as well as a trip to New York to appear on the Phil Donahue show.

And, he’s on the job hunt again. Heck, he said, he would even return to Fuddruckers to flip burgers again.

But all that could wait Friday. Thomas was ready to do what any red-blooded American would do in his shoes. He hopped into the limousine, popped his head through the sunroof and gave San Diego a fat, juicy kiss on the cheek.

And then he was whisked off into traffic.

Moments before, he donned a pair of Rayban sunglasses a friend had lent him.

“I’m back in California now,” he said.