Ex-Santa Monica Resident Convicted After Long-Delayed Sex Tourism Trial

SANTA MONICA - A onetime Southland resident was found guilty Monday of traveling repeatedly to Cambodia to sexually assault impoverished children, four of whom testified to grueling sexual attacks that had jurors blinking back tears.

Delays kept the case against Ronald "John" Gerard Boyajian at a stalemate for seven years prior to the start of the month-long trial.

"This case is about a man who wanted to sexually assault children -- and he found a place where he could do that," Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Baehr-Jones said. Boyajian traveled to Cambodia -- one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries -- about three dozen times between 2002 and 2009, where he engaged in sexual activity with Vietnamese girls between the ages of 8 and 11 in a village outside Phnom Penh frequented by child molesters and known as "Kilo 11."

One of the girls -- now an adult working in Cambodia to help fellow victims of sexual predators -- told jurors that Boyajian paid her grandmother to leave her alone with him in a wooden shack. She described being raped, beaten and bitten on the legs and calves by the defendant during multiple attacks.

Asked by prosecutors to identify her attacker after she took the stand last month, the girl slowly walked to the center of the area in front of the judge, met the gaze of every male in the room, then turned to the defendant and pointed to him.

The federal jury deliberated for about five hours before returning guilty verdicts on all three counts contained in a federal indictment initially handed down in September 2009.

Boyajian, who represented himself during the trial, seemed to nod his head as the verdicts were read, but otherwise showed no reaction.

"The United States is the world leader in civil rights, and if you are an American and you hurt a child -- no matter where it takes place in the world -- you will be prosecuted," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Herzog said outside court. "All children must be protected from sexual predators -- and today's verdicts confirm that."

Boyajian -- who was previously convicted in 1994 on nearly two dozen counts of statutory rape in Orange County -- was found guilty Monday of international travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors, engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in foreign places, and commission of a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender.

He faces up to 30 years behind bars, with sentencing tentatively set for June 13 by U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder.

Boyajian, now 55, was among the first defendants charged under an international law enforcement initiative specifically targeting Americans traveling to Cambodia for the purpose of sexually abusing children.

Operation Twisted Traveler was an effort by the Justice Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to crack down on sex tourism.

Boyajian has been in custody in Los Angeles since his removal from Cambodia seven years ago. In the years since he was charged, Boyajian lodged a raft of motions and continuances, ensuring the case remained deadlocked.

In the minutes before the jury was called into the courtroom for opening statements, Boyajian made a motion to have Snyder removed from the case.

When the jury left the courtroom after delivering its verdicts, the defendant told the judge to expect several new motions in the coming weeks, including one objecting to the jury's racial mix.

"This verdict was a long time coming, but the government is committed to prosecuting these types of crimes -- no matter the hurdles," Baehr-Jones told City News Service. "These types of repeat offenders will not escape justice no matter where they travel and no matter how long it takes."

The investigation of Boyajian was begun by the Cambodian non- governmental organization Action Pour Les Enfants -- APLE -- whose investigators said they witnessed Boyajian visiting a child brothel in Svay Pak, a red-light district on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh.

"It was here -- halfway across the world -- that foreigners like the defendant could freely target children who were being sold into prostitution," Baehr-Jones told the panel during her opening statement. In September, an 81-year-old pedophile who previously served time for molesting a Southern California child was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for having sexual contact with two 12-year-old boys in Southeast Asia.

Jack "Dad" Sporich was expelled from Cambodia in 2009 and -- like Boyajian -- charged in Los Angeles as a result of Operation Twisted Traveler.

Witnesses said Sporich, who once lived in Santa Monica, drove his motor bike through the streets of the resort town of Siem Riep, dropping Cambodian currency to attract children.

A third Southland man -- Erik "Alex" Peeters -- pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to international travel and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors, and is expected to be sentenced later this year.

Peeters engaged in sexual activity with at least three Cambodian boys whom he paid $5 to $10 for sex, prosecutors said.

Boyajian, Sporich and Peeters were charged under the Protect Act, which became law in 2003 and made it easier for U.S. authorities to prosecute people for overseas sex crimes. Federal authorities have made more than 70 arrests under the act in countries including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock