Former Manassas School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography Over 17 Years

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Kevin Garfield Ricks, 50, of Federalsburg, Maryland, pled guilty today to producing and possessing child pornography over a 17-year period.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Debra Evans Smith, Special Agent in Charge at the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Douglas W. Keen, Manassas City Chief of Police, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge James C. Cacheris.

“Kevin Ricks admitted this morning in federal court that he is a dangerous, serial predator who sexually assaulted teenage boys for more than 30 years, literally across the globe,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “This case is a chilling reminder to parents and kids that the face of evil is often the familiar and the everyday, and even a seeming respected role model. For his victims’ sake, I wish Mr. Ricks had been caught much, much sooner. But I am grateful that his crimes were discovered and that he is going to spend the rest of his productive life behind bars where he can no longer hurt kids.”

“Mr. Rick’s is a career child predator who shattered many innocent lives over a period of three decades,” said FBI SAC Smith. “The FBI has dedicated squads around the country, including here at the Washington Field Office, whose sole purpose is to find child predators and bring them to justice. We urge other victims and those who might suspect someone is molesting children to provide that information to investigators to help prevent others from being victimized.”

“The initial investigation and arrest of Mr. Ricks by Manassas City Police uncovered additional evidence that led to identification of additional victims nationally and internationally,” said Manassas City Police Chief Keen. “With the cooperation of the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Manassas City Police Department, a joint investigation was opened. The outstanding work by all agencies has taken a career child predator off the street.”

Ricks pled guilty today to six counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. As part of the plea agreement, four other federal jurisdictions have relinquished jurisdiction over their child pornography offenses, which occurred between 1994 and 2010. The defense and government jointly recommended in the plea agreement a prison sentence of 300 months. Ricks will be formally sentenced on May 27, 2011.

In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Ricks admitted to engaging in illegal sexual contact with minor boys dating back more than three decades. As a junior camp counselor at Camp Holiday Trails near Charlottesville, Virginia in 1979, Ricks took an 11-year-old camper to a home in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., over part of the summer and performed sexual acts on the victim. In 1981, while attending college at the University of North Carolina, Ricks befriended a 12-year-old boy and performed sexual acts on the young boy at another home near Conway, N.C.

In 1988, Ricks moved to Japan to teach English. Ricks admitted that, while in Japan, he used large quantities of tequila to get victims drunk. After they passed out, he would photograph or film himself performing sexually explicit conduct with the victims. One of the victims accompanied Ricks on a trip to the United States during which Ricks got the victim drunk in a San Francisco hotel room and filmed himself performing sexually explicit conduct with the victim. The victims in Japan ranged in age from 15 to 17 years old and were students of Ricks.

After leaving Japan in 1995, Ricks moved to Danville, Va. Ricks began hosting male foreign exchange students for several student exchange programs and working in local schools teaching English. In 1997 and 1999, Ricks filmed and photographed himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with two different 17-year-old exchange students after getting them drunk and having them pass out. The conduct occurred in Danville as well as on a road trip in a hotel in Nevada.

In 2001, Ricks moved to Federalsburg, Md., where he continued to host exchange students and teach English at local schools. In 2004, Ricks filmed and photographed himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with another 17-year-old exchange student after getting the boy drunk on tequila to the point that the boy passed out.

In 2007, Ricks began teaching in Manassas, Va., during the week and spending the weekends in Federalsburg, Md. In December 2009, Ricks engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a 16-year-old former student after getting the boy drunk with beer and approximately 10 shots of tequila. Ricks was arrested Feb. 18, 2010 by the Manassas City Police and pled guilty to state charges of indecent liberties, for which he received a sentence of five years with four suspended.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and Manassas City Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys John Eisinger and Jerry Smagala are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov.