KANSAS CITY, Kan. — More than six years after taking a plea deal in a child exploitation case, a former Kansas City, Kansas, firefighter is back in custody.
This time, Devin Rich is accused in federal court of possessing and distributing child pornography.
Rich is facing six counts of distributing child pornography, and one count of possessing it.
According to the indictment, these charges date back to several days in June 2022, although the details surrounding the allegations are unclear because the case file is sealed to the public.
Three years prior to those alleged offenses, in 2019, Rich agreed to a plea deal in a case where he was accused of engaging in sexually explicit conversations with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a 15-year-old.
In that plea deal, Rich was sentenced to one year of probation on a lesser charge of computer trespassing, a misdemeanor. As part of the agreement, he was also ordered to undergo sex offender treatment, as well as treatment for alcohol abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Transcripts KSHB 41 obtained from his 2019 sentencing in that case show his attorney, John Duma, told the judge Rich ''had been exposed to some pretty intense situations that really knocked him off-kilter,'' causing him to suffer from PTSD. His defense attorney also told Judge Jennifer Myers his client "understands that (he) has an addiction with pornography."
The same court records show the prosecution expressed skepticism over the suggestion PTSD contributed to Rich's actions, noting, "...about the allegation that watching his men die has pointed (Rich) to sexual deviant behavior because there are many more people than just him who had to respond to that and two other officer involved shootings in the last two years; none of which have come before my office's desk with allegations of sex crimes against children."
That prosecutor, then Deputy District Attorney Crystalyn Oswald, also pointed to an evaluation conducted earlier that year showing Rich had a "moderate risk for recidivism." As a result, Oswald expressed concerns that, at the time, Rich had not started the court-ordered sex offender treatment.
She recommended probation, per the plea agreement, and Judge Myers agreed.
At the time of sentencing, Rich addressed the court, stating, "I'd just like to say that I'm sorry for everything that I've done, especially to my family. And you'll never see me in here again."
Rich will be in federal court Monday, April 27, for a detention hearing.
He is currently being held in the Linn County, Kansas, Jail.
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