Undercover child sexual abuse case reveals problem’s dimensions
He wanted to go to Mexico so that he could bargain with parents who would be willing to part with a child. He specifically communicated with a third-party contact that he wanted to “adopt/own” a toddler, adding that, “The cheapest baby girl under 3 would be good.”
He commenced his journey from Ohio late last month, alighting in San Diego, a drop-off point from where he could easily make the last leg of his trip overland to Tijuana.
San Diego is where he stayed.
Anyone wondering why the attorneys at Taylor & Ring in Los Angeles advocate so passionately and aggressively on behalf of young sexual abuse victims need only note the material details of a recently unfolding story involving the above traveler.
That individual, a young man described in a recent New York Times article as a would-be Roman Catholic priest studying at an Ohio seminary college (an official there calls him a “former student”) was motivated to go to Tijuana for one simple and narrowly focused reason, namely this: He wanted to procure a very young female child for what the Times termed a “violent sexual encounter.”
And he told his email contact — unbeknownst to him, federal agents — that he was willing to relinquish an adopted, purchased or rented child “after I finish.”
Thankfully, he never got the chance to begin.
Instead, he was met when he landed in San Diego by agents working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who promptly took him into custody.
He is being charged with multiple federal criminal counts relating to his intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and aggravated sexual assault of a child.
One government agent noted that the case helped to better reveal “a secret world where sexual predators prey on young children around the globe.”
Serving clients throughout the Greater Los Angeles and Southern California area, we represent victims in a variety of civil litigation cases. If you or a loved one has been injured, turn to an experienced Los Angeles personal injury or sexual assault lawyer.
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