Two Florida men have been convicted of horrific child sex crimes and received a combined 44 years in prison.
Christian Rice of Melbourne, FL was recently sentenced in Federal Court to 30 years in Federal Prison followed by 20 years of Sex Offender Probation on the charges of Production, Distribution, and Possession of Child Pornography.
Robert Ripley, 47, of Jacksonville, was sentenced to 14 years in Federal Prison followed by 10 years of Sex Offender Probation for Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography.
The investigation began in July 2021, when the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office SORT Unit received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children advising that child pornography was being distributed via an online chat group.
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Through various investigative efforts, Rice was identified as the person who was actively abusing a five-year-old child, videotaping the abuse and providing the images to Ripley.
Ripley would then share the images with members of a social media group he was moderating.
As part of the investigation, Agents working the case were able to identify and successfully rescue the victim of this horrific and disgusting criminal activity!!
This investigation was a cooperative effort by Agents from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and Immigration Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations.
The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office.
“Thankfully the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Immigration Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Attorney’s Office recently partnered together to take two despicable subjects off our streets who were preying on our most precious of citizens…our children,” said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey.
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