U.S. Citizen Arraigned on Charges of International Sex Tourism

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard David Mitchell was
arraigned yesterday on sex tourism charges in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Hawaii, after being deported from Cambodia, announced Assistant
Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney
for the District of Hawaii Edward H. Kubo, Jr.

Mitchell, 61, a U.S. citizen and resident of Hawaii, was charged in a criminal
complaint filed on Aug. 26, 2009, in U.S. District Court for the District of
Hawaii with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. According
to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, witnesses reported seeing
Mitchell engaging in sex acts with a female child on the curbside of a street
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in August 2008. Mitchell was initially arrested in
August 2008 by the Cambodian National Police on local charges related to the
same incident.

Mitchell returned to Hawaii on Sept. 5, 2009, following his removal from
Cambodia. Upon his arrival at Honolulu International Airport, he was taken
into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. At
yesterday's hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren ordered Mitchell held
without bond pending a detention hearing.

Mitchell is the fourth American arrested by ICE in the past two weeks for
sexually exploiting minors in Cambodia. On Aug. 31, 2009, three Americans
were taken into custody by ICE at Los Angeles International Airport following
their removal from Cambodia on sex tourism charges. The four cases are the
result of unprecedented cooperation among U.S. authorities, the Cambodian
government and non-governmental organizations to target American sex tourists
in Cambodia.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS167599+09-Sep-2009+PRN20090909

[BR_Parkway]

1. Headline had me hoping it was OxyRush

[Bozita]

2. Pigboy prefers Carribean boys.

[Soylent Brice]

3. DAMN, i thought this was about Rush.

[DeSwiss]

4. I'm surprised Cambodia let him go....

...since he tried http://khmernz.blogspot.com/2009/02/child-sex-hearing-adjourned-as-alleged.html">running off from them once before.

[57_TomCat]

5. I gather from the article yoe linked...

that the victim of the assault was the one that ran from the court.

[DeSwiss]

6. Oops, you're right.

But it may also explain why he was allowed to leave and face charges in the U.S.

[Mari333]

7. put him away for ever...in a prison with inmates who are fathers of young girls

let them have at him...

[Massacure]

8. The U.S. can criminalize activites in other countries?

I don't understand this? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of Cambodia to try and punish people for activities that are deem illegal under Cambodian law?

[msanthrope]

9. It's criminal to travel with the intent to have sex with minors.

Congress has the authority to regulate commerce; the arrangements to travel had been made from the USA.

[provis99]

10. I love that law.

Its not the sex crimes themselves that they're going after, which unfortunately is a crime out of the reach of the US; but some lawmaker was smart enough to enact a law that traces the start of the crime from taking off from the US to go to a foreign country to rape a child. The intent is certainly there; it can be proven by the evidence that the villain did engage in this repulsive activity in a foreign country.

that means these monsters aren't safe from US justice no matter what country they try this in.

[msanthrope]

14. Eh....I'm of two minds about it.

Getting these freaks in jail is a good thing.


As long as we don't start prosecuting people for traveling with the intent to go smoke themselves silly in Amsterdam.

As long as this mechanism is used on activity that is clearly illegal--in both the US and the host country--I feel better about it.

[CanonRay]

11. Can we get a fund going to hire a P.I. to follow Rush

on his next Carribean outing? I bet it would be worth the money.

[Odin2005]

12. Lock him up and throw away the key.

Or better yet, but a bullet through the head of this worthless sack of shit!

[Vidar]

13. Isn't there a fourth Bush brother who also travels in these august circles?