ALEXANDRIA, VA—Kevin Garfield Ricks, 51, of Federalsburg, Md., was sentenced today to 300 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for producing and possessing child pornography over a 17-year period.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of 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.
“In his journals, Kevin Ricks calls himself the devil, a molester so depraved that he is beyond rehabilitation and said that his soul was corrupt,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “Mr. Ricks was every parent’s worst nightmare: a master manipulator child predator who sexually abused while leading a double life as a beloved teacher and counselor more than three decades. There is no question that his pattern of abuse would have continued if it weren’t for the heroic intervention of a concerned parent and the tremendous efforts of the Manassas City Police Department and the FBI in bringing him to justice.”
“Though we are pleased with this sentence, hindsight shows this case is like many others and involves a sad pattern of victims skillfully manipulated by a predator,” said FBI ADIC McJunkin. “We urge parents and others to be more vigilant in protecting our most innocent of citizens, our children. It’s easy sometimes not to hear or believe our children because their statements are too vague or too few. We in the law enforcement community commit to work harder, better and faster to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”
“The initial investigation and arrest of Mr. Ricks by Manassas City Police uncovered evidence that led to identification of additional victims nationally and internationally,” said Chief Keen. “With the cooperation of the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Manassas City Police Department, a joint investigation was opened and we were able to take a career child predator off the street and help prevent other innocent lives from being taken advantage of.”
On March 3, 2011, Ricks pled guilty 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.
According to court records, Ricks engaged in illegal sexual contact with minor boys dating back more than three decades. As a junior camp counselor at Camp Holiday Trails near Charlottesville, Va., 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 engaged 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.
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