Ex-Caperton aide faces sex charges

Rice jailed in Internet sting case involving 13-year-old boy

By Ryan Feeney, Journal Staff Writer

    MARTINSBURG -- Tom Rice, a former top aide in the Caperton administration and a longtime executive with the Blue Ridge Outlets Center, was arrested on sex charges involving a male juvenile in Virginia, authorities said.

    Rice, the 58-year-old who served as Democrat Gaston Caperton's chief of operations, was arrested Saturday night in the city of Bedford on three felony counts:  two counts of attempted indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14 and one count of attempted crimes against nature with a child under the age of 14.

    The arrest came as the result of an Internet sting operation, Bedford County Sheriff's Department investigator Melvin Williams said Saturday night.  All three charges involved a 13-year-old boy, he said.

    "This was an undercover initiative from the very beginning," Williams said.

    The three warrants issued for his arrest came from the Bedford County Sheriff's Department.  As of Sunday night, Rice was being held without bail at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail in Bedford County, Va.

    The warrants were issued at about 5 p.m. on Saturday.  The investigation had been going on for about a month, Williams said.  Rice was arrested after traveling from Martinsburg to Bedford County, he said.

    The charges stem from investigations conducted by Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, Internet Investigations Group, of the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.

    The investigation is part of an ongoing "Crimes Against Children on the Internet" program that evolved from a federal gran awarded to the sheriff's office for its investigative efforts in this area.

    The Bedford County Sheriff's Office was one of 10 law enforcement agencies in the nation to receove the grant and the only law enforcement agency in Virginia to receive the grant.

    A news conference is scheduled for today at 11 a.,. in Bedford.  The town of Bedford is a community of about 6,000 residents located between Lynchburg and Roanoke.

    West Virginia State Police on Saturday searched Rice's home at 124 E. Addition St. in Martinsburg.  Sgt Joe Adams said a computer was seized, along with "documents and photographs."

    Martinsburg officers assisted in the search, which began at 6:31 p.m.

    In Internet sting operations, police typically seize the computer involved to get a record of every outgoing and incoming communication.

    Last year, Rice fought to finish the four-year term on the state Racing Commission that Caperton appointed him to in 1996.

    Gov. Cecil Underwood replaced Rice after he urged the commission to take competitive bids for the $300,000 promotional and advertising budget for the annual West Virginia Breeders' Classic horse rac at Charles Town Races.

    The Breeders' Classsic is headed by NFL Hall of Famer Sam Huff, who backed Underwood in the 1996 campaign for governor.

    Rice fought his removal in a case that reached the state Supreme Court.  Rice's attorney argued that Underwood wanted to establish Republican control of the commission, but the Supreme Court affirmed Underwood's right to replace appointed commissioners.

    Rice -- who also served on the state School Building Aurhority, the state commission that funds new schools and school improvements -- is vice president for marketing at the Blue Ridge Outlet Center in Martinsburg.

    The impact of Rice's arrest on Martinsburg's already struggling outlet complex was unclear.  The center is facing competition from new outlet centers in nearby Leesburg, Va., and Hagerstown.

    Rice has been active locally in Democratic circles for many years, said friend and fellow Democrat Pat Murphy.

    "This is a shock to me," he said.

    Murphy, a former state delegate and former Berkeley County commissioner, said he knows Rice mainly through projects they've worked in together in the Panhandle.

    "Tom has always been a good friend and I wouldn't want to bail out on him when he needs help," Murphy said.

    "He helped the community a lot.  I just would want to find out more and give him all of the safeguards that anyone who is accused of this is given."

    Murphy said the last time he saw Rice was at Christmas.  "I know that his health has been bad.  He's been under a lot of pressure," he said.

    Rice suffered from a stomach illness last December.

    Murphy said that, when Rice was chief of operations for Caperton, he was instrumental in getting aid locally that helped people recover from the 1993 tire fire near Inwood.

    "He made the key calls and got things going on that," he said.

    Murphy said Rice also helped make sewer utility available in south Berkeley.

    "I hope he gets a fair shake," Murphy said.