Soap Lake Repeat Sex Offender Gets 22 Years for Child Porn

A Soap Lake, WA man was sentenced to 264 months in Federal prison, roughly 22 years, after pleading guilty to child porn.

  The man was previously prosecuted in 2002

Michael Gene Rice, 49, of Soap Lake had pleaded guilty in July of this year.  U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice handed down the sentence and also ordered Rice to pay $48,000 in restitution to his victim, and he will be on Federal supervision for ten years after his release.

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Authorities began to investigate Rice after an 11-year-old girl revealed he had instructed her to record herself on a cellphone performing various sexual acts. The recording was found on Rice's iCloud account. According to the US District Attorney's office of Eastern WA:

" The Grant County Prosecutor’s Office successfully prosecuted Rice on charges of First Degree Dealing in and Possession of Child Pornography, resulting in guilty verdicts after a jury trial.  Sentencing is pending in that case."

Rice was previously convicted of 1st Degree Child Rape in 2002, at which time he received a suspended sentence. That victim was also 11-years-old.

When the time Rice has already spent behind bars is added, his total jail sentence will be just over 23 years.