PORTLAND, Maine — A man, who is a registered sex offender, was sentenced in a Portland courtroom Monday for possessing child sexual abuse material.
Richard T. Rich Jr., 55, of Portland, was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison, as well as a lifetime of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maine said in a news release.
"According to court records, in May 2022, the Maine State Police (MSP) Computer Crimes Unit relayed to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that it was investigating Richard T. Rich Jr. for using the website Quora to solicit child sexual abuse material," the release said.
Once officials learned Rich was a registered sex offender with previous convictions in the state of New Jersey for offenses including aggravated sexual assault, possessing/viewing sexually explicit material, and more, an MSP detective, as well as Rich's Maine state probation officer, visited his home in Portland, the release stated.
During the home visit, the detective and probation officer discovered several electronic devices that Rich was not authorized to possess.
"A subsequent analysis of those devices by HSI revealed child sexual abuse material," the release said.
During Monday's sentencing, the judge noted "that while the defendant himself had not sexually abused the children depicted in the images, the continuing sexual abuse of the children 'is fueled by your desire to see these images,'" the release stated.
This case was investigated by the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and Homeland Security Investigations.
Rich initially pleaded guilty on Oct. 24, 2022.
