A Washington-area colonel was found guilty of possessing and distributing child pornography at a court-martial Monday and will be discharged and spend four years in prison for it, according to an Army release.
Col. Robert Rice, 58, had faced three charges for swapping child pornography as well one count of indecent language and one count of adultery for soliciting sex through Craigslist.
A judge at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., found him guilty of the two counts, as he requested a trial without a jury. Though he was sentenced to five years' confinement, the release said, he will only spend four in prison per a pre-trial agreement.
Rice now has the right to petition the court for clemency, according to the release.
This was the colonel's second trial this year, after a federal court found him guilty of receiving, possessing and distributing child pornography in May.
The case started while he was stationed at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Suspecting he was having an affair, his wife set up surveillance software on their home computer and found multiple instances of him sexually chatting online, collecting child pornography and discussing how to hide it, according to his federal indictment.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
