Using the Internet to sexually prey on a boy
from Bedford -- who turned out to be an undercover investigator -- fetched
former high-ranking West Virginia official Tom D. Rice more than five years
in prison Thursday at a hearing in Roanoke federal court.
Rice, a longtime Democratic activist and chief of operations
for West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton from 1992 to 1996, faced 12 to 18
months in prison under a pre-sentence report made by his probation officer.
But Chief U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson brushed aside
those guidelines in favor of a sentence range with a minimum of 63 months.
"Young children all over America use the Internet to stay
in contact with their friends, to engage in research for their homework
and otherwise to learn about the world in which they live," Wilson told
Rice. "The use of the Internet to facilitate predatory sexual contact"
must be dealt with harshly.
Wilson added that if his decision for the tougher punishment
was overturned on appeal, he would still give Rice more than the 12- to
18-month range when Rice is resentenced.
Rice, 59, of Martinsburg, W.Va., pleaded guilty in November
to crossing state lines to have sex with a minor.
Last February, he began an online conversation with an
undercover Bedford County sheriff's investigator who was posing as a 13-year-old
boy. Rice proposed they meet at Bedford Elementary School and then check
into a motel for intercourse. On Feb. 20, he made the 190-mile drive to
the school, where deputies arrested him.
At Thursday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Giorno
objected to the sentencing guidelines because they were based on "statutory
rape" and not "criminal sexual abuse," which called for 63 to 78 months
in prison. Statutory rape is a sex act that would be legal were the victim
older, Giorno argued. What Rice proposed doing with the young boy was a
felony in Virginia regardless of age, the prosecutor said. Wilson agreed.
Defense attorney Randy Cargill made several references
to the "fictitious victim" in this case, as well as Rice's history of public
service. For his part, Rice said, "The harm and shame I have caused my
family, my friends and some very fine present and former public officials
is something I will regret the rest of my life."
Rice asked to be incarcerated at the Federal Correctional
Institute in Cumberland, Md., an hour from his home. He must also get mental
health treatment and have no access to computers or the Internet.
