ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WUSA) -- Kevin Ricks was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release after his time in prison for producing and possessing child pornography over a 17-year period.
"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 Neil MacBride.
He further described Ricks as "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."
Ricks was working as an English teacher at Osbourn High School when he was arrested in February 2010. Police say an investigation by Manassas City Police and the FBI showed that Ricks had victims nationally and internationally, including Virginia, North Carolina, San Francisco, Nevada and Japan.
Ricks pleaded guilty on March 3 to six counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing.
As part of a plea agreement, four other federal jurisdictions handed over their child pornography offenses that happened between 1994 and 2010.
According to court records, Ricks engaged in illegal sexual contact with minor boys dating back more than three decades.
When he was 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., and performed sexual acts on him.
That camper was Chris Payne, who is 43 now. He made a victim impact statement at Rick's sentencing telling the court and Ricks that "He stripped away my childhood, my dignity. He took advantage of me. I didn't understand it. I was violated. He needs to pay for this."
Payne said it took him years to not feel guilty about what happened to him. He said he came to court to represent the other boys victimized by Ricks, "to help them realize that it's not their fault. They were manipulated and taken advantage of."
While attending the University of North Carolina in 1981, Ricks performed sexual acts on a 12-year-old boy at another home near Conway, N.C.
In 1988, Ricks moved to Japan to teach English and says he used large quantities of tequila to get victims drunk. He admitted that after they passed out, he would photograph or film himself performing sexually-explicit conduct with the victims. One victim took a trip to the U.S. with Ricks where he got the victim drunk and filmed himself performing sexually explicit conduct with the victim. The victims in Japan were students of Ricks between the ages of 15 and 17.
After leaving Japan in 1995, Ricks moved to Danville, Va. and hosted male foreign exchange students and taught English in local schools. In 1997 and 1999, Ricks filmed and photographed himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with two 17-year-old exchange students after he got them drunk and they passed out. The conduct occurred in Danville and in a hotel in Nevada.
In 2001, Ricks moved to Federalsburg, Md. and continued to host exchange students and teach English at local schools. Ricks filmed and photographed himself in 2004 engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a 17-year-old exchange student after getting the boy drunk on tequila and the boy passed out.
In 2007, Ricks started teaching in Manassas, Va., during the week and spending the weekends in Federalsburg, Md. In December 2009, he 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.
Manassas City Police arrested Ricks on Feb. 18, 2010.
At his sentencing, Ricks apologized to his victims, his ex-wife and the students he had taught. But then Ricks seemed to justifying some of what he died, telling the court that the boys in Japan were of legal age for consent for what they did. Ricks also tried to mitigate the horror of his actions saying that the 'photos were never shared and never put on the internet."
Ricks' statement turned preacher-like when he compared himself to David and Paul in the Bible and said, "I am not evil, but a sinner. God have mercy on me. God have mercy on all of us."
Written by Peggy Fox