Sex Assault On Boy Mom Was Babysitting Gets Marietta Man Life

MARIETTA, GA — A Marietta man who sexually assaulted a 7-year-old boy his mother was babysitting will spend life in prison under a sentence handed down on Friday.

Christopher John Wrice, 26, was convicted Thursday — after the jury deliberated for just 40 minutes — on charges of aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes and first-degree cruelty to children.

Friday morning, Cobb Superior Court Judge Kimberly Childs sentenced Wrice to life in prison, plus 50 years.

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In May 2016, Wrice already was wearing an ankle monitor while out on bond on federal child pornography charges. He was living with his mother at an apartment on Favor Road in Marietta.

His mother often babysat for neighborhood children in the apartment, which is where Wrice met the victim and assaulted him. A few months later, the boy told his mother, who took him to be examined by a doctor and reported the attack to the police.

Last week, the now 9-year-old boy testified that Wrice attacked him twice in and around the apartment.

During a federal investigation, agents seized two of Wrice's laptops and found hundreds of videos and images of child pornography, all of it involving young boys. His mother testified in his defense, and said she didn't tell the parents of children she babysat about her son's charges because he hadn't been convicted.

"The victim and his family should be commended for their courage and bravery in coming forward and participating in an emotionally difficult legal process," assistant district attorney Katie Gropper, who prosecuted the case, said. "Very often, child sexual abuse goes unreported. Because of this family’s willingness to shine a spotlight on the painful reality of sexual abuse, we were able to bring justice and ensure that Christopher Wrice will never hurt another child."

Wrice had been in jail since his arrest in September 2016.

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