An American sex offender was convicted earlier this week in a California Federal Court for traveling to Cambodia in 2009 to engage in “illicit sexual conduct with young girls”, according to the US Department of Justice.
After a six week trial, 55-year-old Ronald Gerard Boyajian was found guilty of traveling to Cambodia explicitly to engage in sexual activity with minors.
He was convicted on charges of “intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct”, as well as “engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in foreign places”.
On his 35th trip to Asia over a nine-year period, Mr. Boyajian was arrested by Cambodian police after a joint investigation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles, as well as HSI’s Attaché Offices in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh, alongside the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.
The investigation revealed that Mr. Boyajian made his way to Cambodia once he had finished his parole for a prior conviction on “illegal sex with a minor” charges.
During his trip to Cambodia in 2009, he sexually assaulted four girls, all aged between 8 and11, in the village of Svay Pak, about 11 km from Phnom Penh.
He paid local pimps and family members for access to the girls, who were all from immigrant Vietnamese families. According to the prosecutor and Cambodian police, the area is an infamous destination where Westerners travel to engage in under-age sex.
“The evidence presented at the trial showed that Boyajian thought that he could molest and intimidate his young victims with impunity because he was in a foreign country, but he could not have been more mistaken,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker.
“Protecting children from sexual exploitation is one of our top priorities, and we will pursue pedophiles across the globe if necessary. I also salute the courage of his victims who were willing to come to the United States to be witnesses at the trial and testify against him.”
An 8-year-old girl who testified during the trial said Mr. Boyajian “was abusive, he was cruel, he treated me like I wasn’t even human.”
“For the young victims robbed of their childhoods and innocence by this defendant, justice has been a long time coming, but they can take consolation knowing he will now be made to pay for his crimes,” said Joseph Macias, special agent in charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s HSI Los Angeles.
“I applaud the efforts by the HSI special agents here and overseas who, along with the federal prosecutors, have fought tirelessly to vindicate the rights of these child victims. Today’s verdict should send a clear and resounding message that traveling overseas to exploit children will not go unnoticed or unpunished.”
United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder is set to sentence Mr. Boyajian on June 13.
Due to his prior conviction for a similar crime, he is facing a maximum of 30 years in prison for each charge.
This story ran on March 9, 2016.
