Two men arrested in Breckenridge on child sex charges
Two men were arrested in Breckenridge this morning, July 5, on charges of sexual assault of a child and sexual performance of a child, according to officials and documentation.
The Texas Department of Public Safety – Criminal Investigations Division, assisted by the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, took the two men into custody in a parking lot in the 1200 block of West Walker Street, where they had allegedly gone to meet a juvenile male. At least one of the suspects had been communicating online with someone he thought was a juvenile male and had arranged to meet the boy for sex, according to local officials with information about the case.
Howard Rich Rice, age 30, was booked into the Stephens County Jail today for the offense of sexual assault of a child, according to the Stephens County online jail roster. Eric Jeremiah O’Neill (ONeill), age 26, was arrested and taken to Brown County, where he had a warrant for the second degree felony charge of sexual performance of a child, according to Stephens County Justice Court documents. According to the Brown County Jail’s online custody list, O’Neill was also jailed on charges of online solicitation of a minor. The two men reportedly live in an apartment in the 1100 block of West Elliott Street, next to Breckenridge’s South Elementary School.
They were taken to the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, where they were interviewed by the DPS investigators and then arrested, according to officials.
(Eric Jeremiah O’Neill photo courtesy of the Brown County Jail. Howard Rich Rice photo courtesy of the Stephens County Jail.)
Editor’s Note: This story was updated the morning of July 6, 2023, with additional information, including where each of the men live.
