Ex-teacher from the US jailed 21 years for sexual misconduct with two minors in Cambodia.

ex-teacher jailed 21 years in us for molesting underage girls

A FORMER teacher in Cambodia has been sentenced to 21 years in prison by the US federal court for engaging and attempting to engage in illicit sexual conduct with two underage Cambodian girls while travelling and residing here from 2013 to 2018, the US justice department said in a press release.

American Micky Rife, 36, formerly of Salyersville, Kentucky, was tried before US District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove after his arrest by the US Marshals Service in January last year.

Rife admitted during the trial that between Sept 3, 2012, and Dec 9, 2018, he travelled in foreign commerce and between March 7, 2013, and Dec 9, 2018, he lived in Cambodia.

During those periods, he touched two minor females under their clothing on more than one occasion. He further confessed that both victims were under the age of 12 when the illicit conduct occurred.

US-based Salyersville Independent newspaper reported in January that in September 2012, Rife travelled to Phnom Penh and was employed as a teacher at the Hi-Bridge International School of Phnom Penh until Dec 5, 2018.

He returned to the United States on Dec 9 that year.

In 2013, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Phnom Penh – the Federal Bureau of Investigation arm at the US embassy in Cambodia – received information on Rife’s alleged unusual behaviour towards students.

On Feb 20, 2018, Rife’s ex-girlfriend also contacted the US embassy, alleging that Rife had sexually assaulted a Cambodian female student who was five years old.

The woman claimed she had been in a long-term relationship with Rife and both had adopted a Cambodian female child, who was approximately two years old.

She voiced her concerns that Rife was sexually abusing their adopted child.

The Salyersville Independent also reported that a former vice-principal at the Hi-Bridge school had informed the US Foreign Service National Investigator that she knew of two children who had allegedly been molested by Rife – one in 2013 and another in 2015.

Kem Vando, a specialist at the child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (Aple), recalled to The Post on Sunday that between 2012 and 2013, Aple also received reports from Hi-Bridge school teachers about Rife’s suspected behaviour.