November 24, 2004: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Crime: Sex Tourism: Department of State: Timothy Ronald Obert is alleged to have engaged in sexual relations with a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer
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November 24, 2004: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Crime: Sex Tourism: Department of State: Timothy Ronald Obert is alleged to have engaged in sexual relations with a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer
Timothy Ronald Obert is alleged to have engaged in sexual relations with a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer
Timothy Ronald Obert is alleged to have engaged in sexual relations with a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer
United States Getting Tougher on Child Sex Tourism
Immigration agency makes 10th arrest under 2003 law
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has won another conviction in its 15-month-old initiative to arrest and prosecute travelers who intend to go to another country to engage in sexual activity with children.
In a November 23 press release, ICE announces that the 10th indictment under the 2003 PROTECT Act marks a milestone for the agency in its targeting of international child sex predators. On November 19, a federal grand jury indicted Edilberto Datan of California for travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile after his arrest following a trip to the Philippines. ICE's investigation indicates that Datan was arranging sexual trysts with underage boys in the Philippines.
Also on November 19, John W. Seljan, also of California, was convicted on a charge of attempted travel with intent to engage in a sexual act. He faced charges after his arrest by ICE agents as he prepared to board a flight to the Philippines. The courts found that his intent in the trip was to engage in sex with girls aged 9 and 12.
These cases are part of Operation Predator, an ongoing ICE enforcement initiative to identify, investigate and arrest child sex predators. The initiative has resulted in 4,400 arrests nationwide. ICE is also aggressively targeting foreign nationals engaged in such an activity and seeking their deportation. More than 2,100 child predators have been deported.
The text of the ICE press release follows:
(begin text)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
November 23, 2004
News Release
ICE MARKS MILESTONE IN FIGHT AGAINST GLOBAL CHILD SEX TOURISM
Makes Agency's 10th PROTECT Act Arrest Against International Child Sex Predators
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The November 19 indictment of a San Diego man on charges that he traveled to the Philippines to engage in sex with boys marked the tenth child sex tourism arrest brought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the passage of the PROTECT Act in 2003. Only three such cases had been made in the ten years prior to the passage of the act.
Last Friday, a federal grand jury indicted Edilberto Datan, 60, for travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile, use of an interstate facility to entice a minor to engage in a criminal sexual act, and production and possession of child pornography. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Los Angeles first intercepted Datan on November 4 as he returned from a trip to the Philippines carrying computer memory sticks that contained roughly 100 sexually explicit images of underage Filipino boys. When ICE agents questioned him about the photos, Datan said the boys were members of a dance troupe who came to his hotel room to visit and shower, but denied having any inappropriate contact with them.
The PROTECT Act, signed into law by President Bush on April 30, 2003, removed legal barriers that had limited prosecution of those who travel to foreign countries to engage in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The law also enhanced the criminal penalties for child sex tourism and gave federal law enforcement new authorities to investigate these crimes.
"The arrest of Datan, and the nine other people arrested for child sex tourism in the last 18 months, is a clear message that ICE is finding and arresting child sex predators who travel abroad to commit crimes against children," said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE Michael J. Garcia. "ICE will use all of its resources and authorities to arrest those who believe that committing crimes against children in another country will shield them from the reach of U.S. law enforcement."
Datan's indictment came on the same day as a conviction in another child sex tourism case involving the Philippines. In that case, John W. Seljan, 86, was convicted in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., on Friday of attempted travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile, use of an interstate facility to entice a minor to engage in a criminal sexual act and two counts each of production and possession of child pornography. ICE agents had arrested Seljan in October 2003 as he prepared to board a flight in Los Angeles to engage in sex with two Philippine girls, ages 9 and 12. Seljan is scheduled to be sentenced March 7, 2005. He faces a maximum sentence of 270 years in prison.
Facilitated by ICE's 52 attachés stationed around the world, these ten PROTECT Act cases are part of Operation Predator, an ongoing ICE enforcement initiative launched last year to identify, investigate, arrest and, in the case
of foreign nationals, deport child sex predators. Since the initiative began in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 4,400 individuals nationwide. Approximately 85 percent of those arrested were foreign national sexual predators whose crimes make them deportable - more than 2,100 child predators have been removed to date. In addition, foreign law enforcement officials acting on ICE leads have arrested more than 860 sexual predators in their respective countries.
Other child sex tourism investigations worked by ICE include:
[Excerpt}
Timothy Ronald Obert, 36 / Costa Rica: On June 23, 2004, ICE agents arrested Obert at his residence in Santa Cruz, Calif. Obert is alleged to have engaged in sexual relations with a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer and to have provided the minor with money, drugs and alcohol in connection with the sex acts.
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: Department of State
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Costa Rica; Crime; Sex Tourism
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