Maryland State Wire

A man from Elkton, Maryland, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. Mark Rice, aged 38, received this sentence from U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander. After his prison term, Rice will be under lifetime supervised release.

The case was announced by Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, along with Michael S. McCarthy of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – Baltimore and Roland L. Butler, Jr., Superintendent of the Maryland State Police (MSP).

Rice had previously pled guilty to producing, distributing, and possessing child sexual abuse material. The charges were related to his sexual abuse of two minors in his care and using social media platforms to distribute such material.

According to Rice's plea agreement, he abused a minor beginning when she was less than three years old while creating photographic evidence of the abuse. He also exploited another minor through secretive photography and participated in online communities that traded child sexual abuse content using platforms like Reddit, Telegram, and Kik.

"Rice is a dangerous predator who is now behind bars for a long time where he can’t harm any more children," said Hayes. "This sentence reflects the gravity of exploiting the most vulnerable members of our communities."

McCarthy stated: "This sentencing is a powerful reminder that those who exploit and abuse children will be relentlessly pursued and held accountable."

The investigation began after a CyberTip from Reddit led authorities to an IP address linked to Rice's residence in Elkton. Despite initially denying accusations during an MSP interview and deleting photos from his phone, investigators found child sexual abuse material on his device.

HSI discovered over 600 images across Rice’s devices showing further involvement in trading such materials via encrypted messaging platforms.

This case falls under Project Safe Childhood—a Department of Justice initiative aimed at combating child exploitation since May 2006—marshalling resources at various levels to locate offenders and rescue victims.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended HSI and MSP for their investigative work as well as NCMEC for its assistance in this case.

For more details about Project Safe Childhood or community resources provided by the Maryland U.S Attorney’s Office visit justice.gov/usao-md or justice.gov/psc respectively.