A convicted child rapist who allegedly traded child pornography with people on Facebook is facing federal charges.
An indictment was filed late last month against Ronald Rollings in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. The Vancouver man is classified as a Level 3 sex offender, meaning there is a high risk he will re-offend.
Rollings, 54, was convicted of third-degree child rape in February 1996 and first-degree child rape in August 1997. The two victims were boys, ages 10 and 13, court records show.
The Vancouver Police Department’s Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit received a tip in March about a Facebook page belonging to Rollings that appeared to be associated with exploitative groups. An undercover investigator posing as a 13-year-old boy messaged Rollings on Facebook, and they began chatting, according to the federal complaint.
However, not long after starting the sting operation, Rollings’ Facebook page was either deleted or stopped. It wasn’t until September that police received another tip from Facebook about a second page belonging to Rollings, according to the complaint.
The page was flagged after receiving a video file and sending three images of suspected child pornography with another Facebook account in August, according to the complaint. The images depict boys between the ages of 5 and 15 being sexually assaulted or exploited, the complaint states. Investigators also recovered messages between Rollings and the other Facebook user in which they solicited child pornography, court records show.
On Sept. 13, police served a search warrant on Rollings’ person, as well as any bags and possessions he had on him at the time. They seized his cellphone and laptop.
During an interview, Rollings told police that his old cellphone was stolen and he had only owned the new one for a couple days. He said his laptop also hasn’t worked for months. Rollings has several Facebook accounts, he said, but only uses one account because the others were shut down after being hacked, according to the complaint.
He later admitted to posting in those accounts during the time frame he claimed he didn’t have access to them, according to the complaint. Rollings also said he received and sent images of child pornography and possessed one of the photos on his cellphone, the complaint states.
Rollings has entered not-guilty pleas to distributing child pornography and receiving child pornography, court records show, and is currently in custody.
