Child sex tourism: a dark journey.

"It's like being a star. They want to try my food. They want to see what clothes I wear. They want to watch my television." These statements comprised a convicted sexual offender's description of how children respond to an American male in some foreign countries.

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The United Nations (UN) defines child sex tourism (CST) as organized tourism (the nature of which encompasses many activities) that facilitates the commercial sexual exploitation of anyone under 18 years of age. (1) A global problem, CST has become the topic of increased dialogue among members of the international law enforcement community. Of importance, 191 countries have endorsed this description of CST by ratifying the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child. (2) Having a clear, operational definition constitutes a crucial first step in investigating these cases that permeate international boundaries.

THE PROBLEM

CST poses a unique problem to the law enforcement community for several reasons. Because these cases involve the commercial sexual exploitation of children (more commonly referred to as child prostitution), they often have negative consequences for the victims because of the stigma attached to prostitution in general. Many are reluctant, even under the best circumstances, to report these crimes. When victims do come forward, most find it difficult to cooperate for the duration of the investigation and subsequent prosecution. Also, many lack a strong support system or suffer a variety of functional difficulties. The subsequent victimization sometimes exacerbates these problems, making these children problematic witnesses at trial. Others do not cooperate because of their reluctance to revisit the pain of their abuse. Also, for many victims, their own family members and loved ones share some of the responsibility, thereby causing them emotional difficulty that prevents their full participation in the investigation and subsequent trial. Although present in many child sexual-exploitation investigations, these obstacles are more pronounced in CST cases due to the lack of victim-related services in many developing countries.

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In the past, the international component of the crime has posed the greatest difficulty. Studies have shown that 25 percent of international child sex tourists come from the United States. (3) For American law enforcement agencies, the typical CST investigation involves a U.S. citizen or resident traveling abroad to engage in commercial sex with a child. Much of the evidence needed for prosecution remains in another country having different legislative tools, societal attitudes, and law enforcement responsiveness to these matters. Limited resources, lack of specialized training, and language barriers add to the challenges in these transnational investigations.

On a brighter note, recent legislative reforms in the United States have made the investigation and prosecution of CST offenders less daunting. Specifically, the Protect Act of 2003 eliminated the requirement that investigators provide evidence of the offender's intent to engage in commercial sex with a child prior to departing from the United States, clearing the way for aggressive prosecution in cases that previously would have proven impossible to pursue in U.S. courts. (4) For example, since 2004, 11 individuals have been convicted as a result of CST investigations in the Southern District of Florida.

INVESTIGATIVE SOLUTIONS

Faced with a growing number of complaints about CST and armed with new, aggressive legislation, the FBI's Miami office began an initiative designed to aggressively pursue child sex tourists in the United States. To do so, agents gathered intelligence about how subjects committed CST offenses and established informal investigative response protocols. In the months that followed, the agents employed both reactive and proactive techniques to investigate CST offenders. To illustrate, the author presents examples of these investigations, along with the benefits and limitations to each approach.

Reactive Investigations

Best characterized as cases where the victimization has occurred or is imminent, reactive CST investigations generally begin with a citizen's complaint or a victim's statement. Typically, the offender resides in one country and the offense occurs in another, requiring a coordinated effort among the international law enforcement community to gather background information and evidence. These cases also can become extremely expensive, often stretching the limited budgets of law enforcement agencies. Many police departments in the United States and abroad do not have specialized units to investigate child exploitation and abuse, which can hinder eventual prosecution, particularly in international cases. Finally, the victims in these cases often are reluctant to report their victimization and even more hesitant to follow a long, protracted investigation and subsequent trial. All of these factors make reactive CST cases extremely challenging for law enforcement authorities and prosecutors.

Ben

Ben, a retired dentist from Florida, traveled frequently to Central America, eventually buying a house near the beach in a popular tourist town. (5) Soon after his arrival, he sought out young girls in his new neighborhood, inviting them to his home to listen to music and swim in his pool. Joined by an American friend who came to visit, both men began sexually abusing the youngsters and paying them to remain quiet. The victims, ranging in age from 12 to 15, all belonged to impoverished families to whom a few U.S. dollars equaled an entire month's salary. Ben and his codefendant paid one young girl extra money to serve as their recruiter and bring additional victims to the house. After Ben gave the girls alcohol and illicit drugs and photographed their abuse, one victim went to the authorities who eventually arrested him. Because of limited resources and a large backlog of cases, however, they freed Ben while he was awaiting trial. After he fled the country and became a fugitive, the authorities requested FBI assistance. The subsequent fugitive investigation followed Ben to two additional countries before he returned to the United States and was arrested. A postarrest investigation revealed that Ben planned to return to his Florida home to gather money to travel to Southeast Asia. Following his arrest in Florida, FBI agents searched Ben's computer and found numerous images of child pornography. This case represents the first time that a U.S. citizen was extradited to that Central American country.

Ron

Like Ben, Ron, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen, traveled to several countries before deciding where to finally settle. Soon after his move to a Central American country, Ron met another local man, and the two began to invite young boys to Ron's home. In the months that followed, Ron sexually abused several children before a tip from a local citizen led law enforcement officials to his residence. During a search of his home and office, the police found information leading to a possible codefendant in the United States. Believing that Ron was photographing young victims in his Central American home and sending the pictures to his contact in the United States for editing, duplication, and distribution, the police requested FBI assistance. Eventually, Ron's associate in the United States was indicted for possession of child pornography and later entered a guilty plea. Evidence believed relevant to Ron's investigation was forwarded to Central American authorities. Convicted of the commercial sexual exploitation of several young boys, Ron received the equivalent of a life sentence, in part, because the investigation revealed that he knew he was HIV positive while he was abusing the children.

Proactive Investigations

Proactive investigations incorporate sophisticated investigative techniques, such as undercover operations, to identify offenders and prevent the abuse of potential victims. The use of proactive techniques in CST cases allows law enforcement officials the opportunity to gather valuable evidence while controlling the pace of the investigation. Unfortunately, because undercover operations require the dedication of extensive law enforcement resources, countries with budgetary or legislative constraints often cannot use them.

The FBI's Miami office, in collaboration with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's Office, employed an undercover operation to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals traveling in foreign commerce with the intent to have sex with minors; transporting juveniles in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in sex; enticing youngsters to perform illegal commercial sex acts; or taking part in the trafficking of children for commercial sex acts. To accomplish these objectives, an undercover officer interacted with subjects known to be predisposed to engage in CST. Authorities then arrested those who accepted the undercover officer's offer before they departed the United States, thereby preventing the foreign travel of child sexual offenders. Advantages of this operation included gathering valuable evidence, controlling the investigation, and, most important, preventing the abuse of children in foreign jurisdictions.

THE OFFENDERS

Examining information provided by the individuals arrested as a result of the FBI's undercover operation in Miami can help investigators learn more about CST offenders. Although only 13 subjects supplied the data, they offered some insight into the mind-set of such individuals.

Data Review

While most of the offenders were male, one female was arrested with her husband for paying to engage in sex with two minor girls. Over one-half of the offenders were between the ages of 40 and 60 with nearly one-fourth over 60 years old. Most offenders were either divorced or separated from their spouses with the smallest percentage in the single/never married category. Because travel to another country requires a somewhat substantial monetary obligation, many potential offenders likely do not become international child sex tourists because of external controls, such as limited financial resources. All offenders were employed, some in rather lucrative jobs, except for the female, a stay-at-home mother with three children.

When asked by agents why they had chosen to travel to another country, most offenders stated that they never would attempt to pay for sex with a child in the United States out of fear of arrest. Thirty-eight percent went on to say that they thought it was legal in that particular foreign country. Almost one-third said that they did not believe anyone would report the offense. And, in another nearly one-third of the cases, the offenders believed that the behavior would not actually victimize a child. Some even stated that the person selling the child was the only one doing harm.

Ben, the offender arrested in Florida after fleeing Central America, told the arresting agent that he believed that, no matter the age of the child, if she was willing to take money in exchange for sexual acts, she should be considered a professional prostitute. He further advised that because he considered these girls professional prostitutes, he should not be prosecuted. Although it is legal for people over the age of 18 to engage in prostitution in many developing countries, that does not extend to individuals under 18. The victims in Ben's case ranged in age from 13 to 15. In addition, whereas Ben said that he never would engage in the same conduct in the United States, evidence revealed that he, in fact, was grooming potential victims in this country even while fleeing prosecution in Central America.

Ron, the offender serving a life sentence, argued that he gave the victims money for clothing, entertainment, or bus fare as a gift, not in exchange for sex. When confronted with evidence that he paid the mother of at least one boy for continued access to her child, he advised that he did that because the mother could not afford her electric bill.

John, a teacher from New Jersey, was arrested in Miami after making arrangements with an undercover agent to pay for sex with two 12-year-old girls in a foreign country. He told agents that he did not think this was wrong. During recorded conversations, however, John informed an undercover officer that he did not plan to take the young girls out of his hotel room because of the danger of being seen with them in public.

Instead of traveling out of the United States to pay for sex with young girls, Bob, a Florida police officer, requested that children be brought from a foreign country and delivered to him in a Miami hotel room. After negotiating with an undercover agent for a cheaper price for sex with two minor girls, Bob was arrested and later convicted under the commonly called Sex Tourism Statute that criminalizes the recruitment, enticement, harboring, or transporting of a minor to engage in prostitution in the United States. (6)

Child Oriented Versus Nonchild Oriented

A common question among investigators about child sex tourists involves whether they are predominantly child-oriented or nonchild-oriented offenders. In recent years, many television news shows and documentaries have featured perpetrators who traveled to foreign countries to sexually abuse very young children for small sums of money, leaving viewers with the impression that all CST offenders have a preference for extremely young, prepubescent children.

From an investigative standpoint, understanding whether the offender is child oriented may provide direction for follow-up investigation into the subject's background. Typically, this preference is revealed through an examination of evidence in the case, including computer forensic information, the pornography collection of the offender, and the ages of the victims or potential victims. (7) Most of the perpetrators in the reactive cases examined by the FBI's Miami office fell into the child-oriented category. That is, they seemed to have a clear preference for young, prepubescent children. On the contrary, most of the offenders arrested as a result of the proactive, undercover operation appeared to be nonchild oriented. That is, based on all of the evidence available, these subjects did not demonstrate a clear preference for prepubescent children. In those incidents where probable cause existed to search the offender's computer, agents found child pornography in only 20 percent of the cases. They discovered adult pornography on every computer searched.

This represents an interesting finding that challenges the intuitive notion that, behaviorally, offenders in CST cases mirror those in domestic Internet enticement or child pornography investigations. It constitutes a difficult question to examine because of the limited number of studies focusing exclusively on international CST offenders. Perhaps, as more CST perpetrators are identified both in the United States and abroad, more research will follow, and a clearer prototype of these subjects will emerge.

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CONCLUSION

As the number of international travelers from the United States and other economically developed countries continues to rise, so does the risk posed by child sexual offenders to innocent victims around the world. The problem of child sex tourism requires an aggressive, transnational, and multijurisdictional response by law enforcement. The success of the FBI's first international undercover operation designed to combat CST demonstrated the necessity of joint, proactive law enforcement initiatives that cross national boundaries. These efforts allow the pooling of resources and utilization of multiple legislative options in the apprehension of CST offenders. Most important, proactive undercover operations enable law enforcement to prevent the abuse of children. Although recent successes have occurred, the biggest challenge for the international criminal justice community continues to rest with the generation of creative investigative initiatives designed to stay one step ahead of child sex tourists.

Endnotes

(1) Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN GA Res 44/25; retrieved on December 30, 2005, from http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm.

(2) Ibid.

(3) "The Paedo File," ECPAT Newsletter (ECPAT International, Bangkok, Thailand, August 1996). Visit http://www.ecpat.net/eng/index.asp for additional information.

(4) Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-21, Stat. 650.

(5) To ensure confidentiality, the author uses pseudonyms for all offenders.

(6) 18 U.S.C. [section][section] 1591, 2421, 2422, and 2423.

(7) K.V. Lanning, Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis, 4th ed. (Alexandria, VA: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2001).

RELATED ARTICLE: Features of Child Sex Tourists

* Highly mobile, requiring coordination among varying law enforcement agencies and governments

* Likely to continue abusing children in many different countries if not arrested and prosecuted

* Usually leave evidence in multiple jurisdictions that cross national boundaries, making CST a global problem for law enforcement