GENITAL MUTILATORS SENTENCED.
Byline: Daily NewsTwo Canyon Country residents who investigators said agreed to perform female genital mutilation on two minors were sentenced Wednesday to federal prison terms after pleading guilty to conspiracy, child pornography and obscenity charges.
Todd Cameron Bertrang, 43, was sentenced to five years in federal prison. His girlfriend, Robyn Faulkinbury, 25, will serve two years in prison.
The pair pleaded guilty in May 2004 of conspiracy and possession of child pornography. Additionally, Bertrang pleaded guilty of distributing child pornography and being a felon in possession of several firearms.
Court documents show that Bertrang had a business that offered body piercing and body modifications, and he advertised these services on the Internet. An undercover FBI agent saw his Web site and contacted Bertrang in the fall of 2002, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In a series of communications, Bertrang offered to perform female genital mutilation on two fictitious minor children, ages 8 and 12, for $8,000, according to the report. Bertrang told investigators that he had performed more female circumcisions than anyone else in the Western world - a claim that investigators have been unable to substantiate.
The case against Bertrang and Faulkinbury is the first filed under the federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1995, which outlawed female circumcision or removal of certain sexual organs of girls under the age of 18 unless necessary for the health of the patient and performed by a licensed medical doctor. Neither Bertrang nor Faulkinbury was licensed to practice medicine in California.
Bertrang and Faulkinbury were arrested Dec. 19, 2002, the same day the FBI executed a search warrant at their home and found two computers that contained child pornography.
Faulkinbury also pleaded guilty of obscenity for Web site posting of pictures of herself after genital mutilation, also female circumcision.
The case was investigated by a regional felony sexual assault team of agents and investigators from a number of agencies, including the FBI and the Medical Board of California.
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| Publication: | Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) |
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| Date: | Jun 9, 2005 |
| Words: | 335 |
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