Ex-teacher pleads guilty to sex crime

MANASSAS, Va. -- A former Osbourn High School teacher pleaded guilty Thursday in Prince William Circuit Court to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

Kevin Ricks, 50, of Federalsburg, Md., pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a minor for the incident, which involved a former Osbourn student.

Prosecutors dropped three other charges.

In court testimony Thursday, police described two sexual encounters Ricks, then an English teacher at Osbourn, had with the teen boy in Manassas.

Both incidents happened between Dec. 20, 2009 and Jan. 4, 2010, during Osbourn High School’s winter break.

Before the first incident, Ricks gave the boy five to 10 shots of tequila before sexually assaulting him, Manassas detective David Abbott testified.

The boy was a student in Ricks' English class at Osbourn during the 2008-2009 school year, Abbott said.

A 16-year-old girl told police about the sexual relationship Ricks had with the boy after seeing a post from Ricks on the boy’s Facebook page, Abbott said.

According to federal court documents, in the Facebook post, Ricks told the boy, “You told me our experience was your first with a guy.”

Police interviewed the boy, who told them about the two sexual encounters, Abbott said.

Ricks rented a basement room from the boy’s father, police said. Ricks stayed at that house during the week and traveled to his home in Federalsburg, Md. on the weekends, police said.

Manassas police arrested Ricks at Osbourn on Feb. 18.

In a handwritten journal seized by police, Ricks described his sexual encounters with the boy.

In court Thursday, Ricks stared down at a defense table while a judge silently read a Dec. 24 entry describing the incidents.

After Ricks’ arrest in Manassas, police learned of other sex abuse allegations against Ricks dating back to the 1970s.

After searching his laptop, police found a chat transcript of a conversation between Ricks and a man who accused Ricks of sexually abusing him when he was 9 or 10 and Ricks was 18.

In that conversation, the man asked Ricks “if he had been sexually molested as a child and if that was why Ricks had molested him,” according to federal court documents.

Police found and interviewed the man, who said he met Ricks in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., in the 1970s when Ricks was a counselor at a summer camp he attended as a child. That summer, he spent time at Ricks’ family home and Ricks molested him, police said.

Before Ricks came to Osbourn, a parent accused him of stalking a student he was tutoring at Huntington Learning Center in Fauquier County, according to court documents.

On computers in Ricks’ Maryland home, police found hundreds of images of child pornography, some depicting Ricks with unidentified teen boys who Ricks allegedly sexually assaulted in Maryland, Danville, Va., San Francisco and Japan, where he worked as a teacher, tutor, foreign exchange host and camp counselor.

Federal prosecutors Wednesday charged Ricks with possessing and transporting child pornography. Authorities said the images were saved to a laptop computer that Ricks regularly took with him when he traveled between Virginia and Maryland.

“He was very cunning and very smart and was able to endear himself to people,” Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert said after Ricks’ plea hearing Thursday. “A lot of people who knew him couldn’t believe he would do it.”

After Ricks’ arrest, many Osbourn students defended him, some starting a Facebook group titled “Hoping for Mr. Ricks’s Innocence.”

Despite allegations of sexual abuse dating back to 1978, Ricks was able to get teaching jobs in several states, including at Osbourn High School, where he was hired in 2007.

“In retrospect, I think there were a lot of suspicions, a lot of innuendo, a lot of rumors, but no concrete evidence,” Ebert said. “Without concrete evidence, school administrators are reluctant to act.”

Ricks is being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas Regional jail.

Defense attorney Timothy Olmstead Thursday asked a judge to consider letting Ricks out on bond so he could appear in Caroline County, Md., for divorce proceedings in August. The judge denied that request.

Ricks faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 28.

Federal prosecutors said their investigation of Ricks is ongoing.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-530-3908.