Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Two men convicted of sex tourism ordered to pay victims in RP (1 p.m.)
LOS ANGELES -- A man convicted of traveling to the Philippines to have sex with boys was ordered to pay $16,475 (PHP922,600) in restitution to his victims, officials said.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Tuesday ordered Edilberto Datan, 61, of San Diego to pay the money to eight teenagers identified through a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Philippine police.
The ruling came a day after another San Diego man who made a sex tape with a teenage girl while visiting the Philippines in 2002 was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay $25,000 (PHP1.4 million) to "benefit Filipino victims of child exploitation", under a plea agreement in San Diego federal court.
Datan's case was prosecuted under the PROTECT Act in 2003, which boosted penalties for such crimes and made it easier for federal prosecutors to bring charges in sex tourism cases.
"In the 10 years prior to the PROTECT act, there were only two cases prosecuted", said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
"Since then, we've had 14 child sex tourism cases involving individuals, a number of them in Southern California", she added.
Datan was arrested in November at Los Angeles International Airport after returning from a trip to the Philippines.
A search of his luggage turned up hundreds of sexually explicit images of underage boys.
He pleaded guilty in March to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors and producing child pornography outside the United States.
He was sentenced in June to 17 years in federal prison and lifetime supervision.
Under an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office and ICE, the international aid group World Vision will use the money Datan pays to provide two years of medical, psychological, and occupational therapy for the teens, who were 14 and 15 when the crimes occurred.
On Monday, a San Diego judge ordered Bernard Lawrence Russell, 38, to stay away from children, give up his passport and have his telephone and computer use monitored.
Russell admitted in April that he traveled to the Philippines in 2002 with the intent to have sex with a child.
According to court documents, two girls, ages 13 and 14, said Russell paid them $30 (PHP1,680) and $20 (PHP1,120), respectively, to have sex.
Authorities also seized 32 images of child pornography during a search of Russell's home in 2003. (AP) |
