Man Required to Register as Sex Offender Charged with Production of Child Pornography

INDIANAPOLIS—Rickie L. Rarey, 49, Bloomington, Indiana, was indicted today by a federal grand jury sitting in Indianapolis with six counts of Production of Child Pornography and one count of Committing a Child Exploitation Felony While Required to Register as a Sex Offender announced Timothy M. Morrison, United States Attorney, Southern District of Indiana, following an investigation by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indiana State Police, with the cooperation with the Bartholomew County Prosecuting Attorney. Rarey is currently being held on state charges based on some of the conduct alleged in the federal indictment.

The Indictment alleges that Rarey used two minor females to produce lewd and lascivious images of them in a state of nudity. Rarey produced this child pornography on five separate dates. At the time he allegedly produced the images, Rarey was required to register as a sex offender under Indiana law, having been convicted of three counts of Child Molesting in Bartholomew County, Indiana in 1994.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook, who is prosecuting the case for the government, Rarey, if convicted, faces a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of six production of child pornography counts. If convicted of committing a child exploitation felony while required to register as a sex offender, Rarey would be subject to an additional ten year prison term to run consecutively to any other sentence imposed. An initial hearing will be scheduled before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.