Cracking Down on Child Sex Tourism
It’s one of the most horrific crimes imaginable: The sexual exploitation of children. In recent years, many sex offenders have sought to cover their tracks by traveling overseas, where they hope to conduct their criminal activities far from the reach of U.S. law enforcement.
Today we’re sending a message that they won’t get away with it.
I’m in Los Angeles, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice announced that three U.S. citizens, all previously convicted sex offenders, are being returned from Cambodia to the United States, where they will face federal charges for child sex tourism.
Under Operation Twisted Traveler, which launched in February, ICE is working closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI and our law enforcement counterparts in Cambodia to identify and arrest Americans engaging in child sex tourism in that Southeast Asia country.
Today’s arrests and charges are the direct result of an extraordinary cooperation between ICE, the Cambodian National Police, the Department of State, and the non-governmental organizations who work in Cambodia to identify suspected sex tourists and rescue victims. Offering vital contributions to the effort are Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), the International Justice Mission, and HAGAR International, three non-governmental organizations that shared valuable information to facilitate these arrests.
The three individuals named today are all alleged to have molested or raped children, some as young as 9 years old, in Cambodia. All have previous records of crimes against children. One of the suspects, a 75-year-old man, is reported to have ridden a motor scooter through the streets of the city of Siem Riep, dropping money behind him as a way to entice children, according to witness reports.
Combating the sexual exploitation of minors has been a leading priority for ICE under Operation Predator. Under this long-running initiative, we’ve arrested more than 11,000 sex offenders—including more than 1,100 outside the United States. Thanks to tougher laws against child sex tourism, we have the tools to target those offenders who travel abroad in the effort to evade capture by law enforcement.
There might have been a time when it was easier for predators to hide their crimes by crossing borders. ICE is leading the effort to ensure that child sex tourism becomes an issue of the past.
John Morton
John Morton is the Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Today we’re sending a message that they won’t get away with it.
I’m in Los Angeles, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice announced that three U.S. citizens, all previously convicted sex offenders, are being returned from Cambodia to the United States, where they will face federal charges for child sex tourism.
Under Operation Twisted Traveler, which launched in February, ICE is working closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI and our law enforcement counterparts in Cambodia to identify and arrest Americans engaging in child sex tourism in that Southeast Asia country.
Today’s arrests and charges are the direct result of an extraordinary cooperation between ICE, the Cambodian National Police, the Department of State, and the non-governmental organizations who work in Cambodia to identify suspected sex tourists and rescue victims. Offering vital contributions to the effort are Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), the International Justice Mission, and HAGAR International, three non-governmental organizations that shared valuable information to facilitate these arrests.
The three individuals named today are all alleged to have molested or raped children, some as young as 9 years old, in Cambodia. All have previous records of crimes against children. One of the suspects, a 75-year-old man, is reported to have ridden a motor scooter through the streets of the city of Siem Riep, dropping money behind him as a way to entice children, according to witness reports.
Combating the sexual exploitation of minors has been a leading priority for ICE under Operation Predator. Under this long-running initiative, we’ve arrested more than 11,000 sex offenders—including more than 1,100 outside the United States. Thanks to tougher laws against child sex tourism, we have the tools to target those offenders who travel abroad in the effort to evade capture by law enforcement.
There might have been a time when it was easier for predators to hide their crimes by crossing borders. ICE is leading the effort to ensure that child sex tourism becomes an issue of the past.
John Morton
John Morton is the Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Labels: cbp, child sex tourism, ICE, operation twisted traveler
posted by DHS @ 6:01 PM
2 Comments:
At September 2, 2009 6:20 AM ,
cgreport said...
At CoastGuardReport.org we have been strong supporters of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Our missing to cover child abuse cases began in earnest with the arrest by retired Coast Guard Captain Gerald F. Corcoran in February of this year by the FBI in Miami. Corcoran was indicted on trafficking in child pornography and sentenced to five years in federal prison on 21 August 2009.
This international case being reported today is indicative of why we must all work together to keep this issue in the public eye. Congratulations to ICE on bringing these three men to justice.
At January 29, 2010 1:42 PM ,
Anonymous said...
please double check this man's hardrives for tax evasion...he often bragged of it.
Child pornography hearing postponed
Chris Durant/The Times-Standard
Posted: 01/29/2010 01:21:11 AM PST
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A detention hearing for a Rio Dell man indicted on one federal count of possessing child pornography was postponed Thursday so the magistrate, who was appearing by phone from San Francisco, could be in attendance.
”It is my client's desire to formally waive time to have the hearing conducted in your physical presence,” said Randall Davis, attorney for Adrian Duncan, in the Federal Courthouse in Eureka.
Federal Magistrate Nandor Vadas postponed the hearing until Feb. 8 at 1 p.m.
The indictment against Duncan was handed down by a federal grand jury on Jan 12.
Lori Haley, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is in charge of the investigation, said a search warrant was executed by ICE agents on Duncan's Rio Dell apartment in August, but he was not arrested.
The indictment lists a number hard drives that were taken during the Aug. 13 raid of his Pacific Avenue apartment. The hard drives include a 250-gigabyte device, two 80-gigabyte drives, one 20-gigabyte drive, a 40-gigabyte unit and some CD-ROMS, DVDs and floppy diskettes.
When asked why ICE conducted the raid, Haley said ICE is the largest investigative unit in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and vigorously pursues these types of crimes as part of the national “Operation Predator.”
”It's a very high priority for our agency,” Haley said.
Duncan was arrested earlier this month at his apartment and has
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been in custody since that time.
Haley said she could not provide many details about the investigation into Duncan, but said it originated online.
”It had something to do with Internet bulletin boards where people exchange child pornography,” Haley said. “It's still an ongoing investigation.”
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