New charges have been filed against a Thurmont resident after police uncovered evidence of child pornography during an investigation that began earlier this year.
According to the Thurmont Police Department, 74-year-old Byron Rice was first identified as the suspect in a November 2025 assault involving a juvenile female at a Thurmont business. He was charged with second-degree assault through a criminal summons served in December.
In March 2026, investigators received a tip from an anonymous source who reported seeing suspected child pornography on computer equipment belonging to Rice and provided information about online communications involving underage females. Detectives later located multiple files containing child pornography associated with Rice’s devices and online accounts. Rice was served with a criminal summons on May 6 charging him with seven counts of accessing and viewing child pornography.
By: Dianah Gibson
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