• February 1, 2006: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Crime: Molestation: CBS News: "The Peace Corps has a zero-tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law" says Director Vasquez on Obert Child Abuse case  Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 9:26 am [1]

• February 1, 2006: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Crime: Molestation: San Jose Mercury News: Timothy Ronald Obert admits to sex abuse as Peace Corps volunteer  Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 9:21 am [1]

Ronald Obert admits to abuse while in Peace Corps



The investigation was launched, and Obert's Peace Corps status terminated, when a fellow volunteer saw the naked teen emerge from Obert's bedroom one morning while the colleague was staying with Obert, prosecutors said.

Ronald Obert admits to abuse while in Peace Corps

Santa Cruz man admits to abuse while in Peace Corps
By Cathy Smith
sentinel staff writer

A 38-year-old Santa Cruz man has admitted to sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica in the summer of 2003, federal prosecutors say.

Timothy Ronald Obert entered the plea Wednesday.

He will be sentenced by U.S. Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose on May 15, said Luke Macaulay, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Obert faces a maximum 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and sex registration, he said.

Defense attorney Paul Meltzer said he is also eligible for probation.

By pleading guilty, Obert admitted to "illicit sexual contact" with a Costa Rican boy on July 6, 2003, Macaulay said. The "sexual abuse" occurred in Obert's apartment while he was in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer working with "PANI," the country's child welfare agency, he said.

Meltzer said Obert met the teen at a bar, and not through his volunteer work, and that the sex was "entirely consensual." Obert was arrested June 23, 2004, at his Graham Hill Road home. A federal indictment alleges Obert performed oral sex on the boy, and provided him with money, drugs and alcohol.

The investigation was launched, and Obert's Peace Corps status terminated, when a fellow volunteer saw the naked teen emerge from Obert's bedroom one morning while the colleague was staying with Obert, prosecutors said.

The boy told investigators he had engaged in sexual activity with Obert on multiple occasions and Obert admitted to having sex with the minor, Macaulay said.

Obert volunteered for the Peace Corps from September 2001 to July 2003, Macaulay said, and he is the first Peace Corps volunteer prosecuted for sexually assaulting a minor while working in another country. The case was one of the first under a Patriot Act statute which expanded federal jurisdictions in countries being used by U.S. personnel or missions. The Peace Corps is an independent federal agency, he said.

Obert was charged with a violation of a "sexual tourism" statute as well as the Patriot Act violation, Meltzer said, and the former carries a greater penalty. It will be dropped as part of the plea agreement, he said, and is an "unusual statute" he said had only been used in about a half-dozen cases.

The Protect Act, or Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act, enacted in April of 2003, prohibits U.S. residents from engaging in sexual activities with people under 18 anywhere in the world.

Meltzer said he challenged the constitutionality of the U.S. having jurisdiction in that country under the sexual tourism statute, which does not necessitate that people travel with the intent to commit sex crimes. He said the judge took the motion seriously, but withheld a decision pending another challenge in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Last week, appellate jurors ruled it was constitutional, he said.

Contact Cathy Smith at csmith@santacruzsentinel.com.

When this story was posted in February 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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