One victim to come forward, Takashi Kajiwara, says that in 1994, Ricks took him to the United States for a cross country road trip.
Ricks and his wife left Japan in 1995 after he was accused of shoplifting and the school officials decided to let his contract lapse.
[4] Also during this time, Ricks entered into a foreign exchange program, Education First, and hosted young students from all over the world in his home.
In 2006, parents of a 13-year-old boy reported that Ricks asked their son to sit on his lap and play video games, although a police investigation resulted in no charges.
[5] A year after the accusations of stalking, the Manassas school district recommended Ricks for a full five-year teaching permit, despite his ineligibility.
[3][5] When his home in Federalsburg, Maryland, was searched by police, dozens of handwritten journals were discovered that detailed more than three decades of Ricks' serial sexual abuse.
In addition to the journals, police also recovered numerous pieces of video and photographic evidence of the abuse of many young boys by Ricks.
[4] The U.S. District Court of Alexandria, Virginia, sought the plea to get a long sentence for Ricks and to spare the victims from having to testify at a public trial.
[6] The charges, resulting in a prison sentence of 25 years, are mostly related to his offenses in Virginia and Maryland, as well as the trips to the West Coast that Ricks invited several students on.