If you are a sex abuser, you cannot see your children

A Pierce County judge ruled Thursday that a former Tacoma school teacher accused of raping one of her students won’t be able to see her children until her case is resolved. Jennifer L. Rice had requested that her children – all under age 10 – be able to come to the jail to visit her.
“The holidays are coming up,” Rice’s attorney, public defender Melanie MacDonald, argued. “They’ve been asking to see their mom.”

Rice’s husband and her parents were willing to supervise the visits, MacDonald told Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan. Visitors to the jail can see inmates through thick glass windows and talk to them via two-way phones.

Deputy prosecutor Grant Blinn opposed the request, saying Rice has been trying to chip away at the court order restricting her contact with children.

Rice, 32, was forbidden to have any contact with minors – including her own children – following her arrest in August. She later convinced a judge to allow her to call or write her own kids.

She is charged with more than a dozen sex crimes involving two boys, including kidnapping a 10-year-old former student for the purpose of having sex with him. Rice has pleaded not guilty. She’s being held in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

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