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TSA supervisor busted for having sex with underage girls in the Dominican Republic

TSA supervisor busted for having sex with underage girls in the Dominican Republic

Old May 14, 2014, 10:39 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Lots of people in that income level who travel to LDCs have (US) $2,000 to $5,000 when going to/from a trip abroad.

What is the legal minimum age of consent for females in DR to engage in sexual relations with someone way older? In parts of Western/Norther Europe, even 14 or 15 year old minors can consent to legal sexual relation with those adults who are way older. I was rather shocked to find out some of the very low ages that are currently considered legitimate under the laws in Europe.
Legal age is 18
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Old May 14, 2014, 12:02 pm
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by Spiff
In 2003, the United States strengthened its ability to fight child sex tourism by passing the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act (PROTECT Act) and the Trafficking Victim's Protection Reauthorization Act. These laws carry penalties of up to 30 years in prison for engaging in child sex tourism. In the nine years since these laws were strengthened, HSI special agents have arrested 93 suspects on child sex tourism charges.

Less than 10 criminals per year arrested, likely fewer prosecuted (successfully).

The cynic in me thinks that the optimists who think that the number of such child sex tourists is less than 10 per year are badly mistaken. However, that's the price the children pay when our scarce law enforcement and other government resources spend their time harassing others on much less serious "crime". (like trying to fly without being treated like a criminal)
I would bet that all 93 have or will be successfully prosecuted. Those were Federal arrests by HSI agents. That means the AUSA's office was heavily involved and would not have procured the arrest warrants unless they intended to prosecute and were 100% sure they could win.

That is how Federal prosecutors keep their conviction rates so high. It just does not work the way state and locals do. It is very rare that a Federal LEO will make a criminal arrest based solely on probable cause. In most cases, the case has been presented to the AUSA for acceptance way before the arrest is made. For state and locals, very often it works the opposite way the arrest is made and then it is presented to the DA for prosecution. The DA then decides whether to proceed or not.

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Old May 14, 2014, 2:02 pm
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Originally Posted by Firebug4
I would bet that all 93 have or will be successfully prosecuted. Those were Federal arrests by HSI agents. That means the AUSA's office was heavily involved and would not have procured the arrest warrants unless they intended to prosecute and were 100% sure they could win.

That is how Federal prosecutors keep their conviction rates so high. It just does not work the way state and locals do. It is very rare that a Federal LEO will make a criminal arrest based solely on probable cause. In most cases, the case has been presented to the AUSA for acceptance way before the arrest is made. For state and locals, very often it works the opposite way the arrest is made and then it is presented to the DA for prosecution. The DA then decides whether to proceed or not.

FB
I agree with this. Ordinarily, it would be easy for these cases to fall apart if they are based on the testimony of troubled underage prostitutes who may not be able or willing to travel to the US to testify, or who could be bought off, or who could be susceptible to claims that their testimony is financially motivated.

In many cases, the sex tourists are dumb enough to confess to the crime by saying "Oh sure, I had sex with that girl, but I thought she was 18." Those are the cases that get prosecuted. Then you just have to prove that the girl in question was under 18, and it's more or less case closed.

That is what happened here. Two girls reported to Homeland Security that they had sex with an American guy in January in a park and that they friended him on Facebook. Agents looked at their Facebook accounts, identified the guy from their Facebook friends list, confirmed from travel records that he was there in the DR in January. Then they stopped him months later as he was leaving for his next trip to the DR and asked him about his activities, and he confirmed having sex with girls in a park on his last trip. Here is a copy of the criminal complaint:

http://freepdfhosting.com/9cc02aac9b.pdf

The purpose of my post is not to advise sex tourists how to beat the rap, but I will mention again that answering questions from law enforcement agents at any time, without consulting a lawyer first, is unwise, even if you think you've done nothing wrong. It is exceptionally stupid to do so after the agents have read your Miranda warnings, which should be a pretty good tip off that you are in a bit of trouble. If he had kept his mouth shut the case against him would be very difficult to prove. Friending hookers on Facebook using your real name is also probably a bad practice, underage or not.

Last edited by jphripjah; May 14, 2014 at 2:08 pm
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Old May 14, 2014, 3:31 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by jphripjah
The purpose of my post is not to advise sex tourists how to beat the rap, but I will mention again that answering questions from law enforcement agents at any time, without consulting a lawyer first, is unwise, even if you think you've done nothing wrong. It is exceptionally stupid to do so after the agents have read your Miranda warnings, which should be a pretty good tip off that you are in a bit of trouble. If he had kept his mouth shut the case against him would be very difficult to prove. Friending hookers on Facebook using your real name is also probably a bad practice, underage or not.
We love it when defendants talk without a lawyer present, and are stupid enough to record their exploits in social media.
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Old Jun 8, 2014, 1:22 pm
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Lots of people in that income level who travel to LDCs have (US) $2,000 to $5,000 when going to/from a trip abroad.

What is the legal minimum age of consent for females in DR to engage in sexual relations with someone way older? In parts of Western/Norther Europe, even 14 or 15 year old minors can consent to legal sexual relation with those adults who are way older. I was rather shocked to find out some of the very low ages that are currently considered legitimate under the laws in Europe.
Yes, well it doesn't matter what the law says, or if the girls are consenting, the USA has decided it needs to impose its busybody "moral standards" on everyone world-wide, so you can be compliant with all local laws yet still be imprisoned by an authority that has no jurisdiction in that location.

But of course, when the tables are reversed, e.g., when a country like Germany makes wiretapping illegal, Americans who assist their government with these activities in Germany don't have to worry, because they "aren't breaking US law," and German law can just be ignored without consequences.
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Old Jun 8, 2014, 1:33 pm
  #21  
 
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The whole thing smells bad. DHS agent who "happened" to be in the country "received a tip off"? Please.

Some DHS was just hanging out on holiday in the RD and someone took upon themselves to ring him up randomly and tell him about this supervisor having sex with local prostititutes.

OR the DHS agent was working illegally in the RD and illegally bribing prostitutes to entrap visiting Americans.


Which sounds more plausible to you?
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Old Jun 8, 2014, 1:41 pm
  #22  
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DHS has some employees assigned to work in DR who have been admitted into DR on the understanding of the DR government that they are there to work for the USG. It could be a case of that if not a case of locals or his friend/neighbor/colleague/relative contacting the USG first about the TSA employee.
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Old Jun 9, 2014, 12:49 am
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Originally Posted by Blogndog

OR the DHS agent was working illegally in the RD and illegally bribing prostitutes to entrap visiting Americans.


Which sounds more plausible to you?

Entrapment? There's no mention that law enforcement had any contact with the defendant at any time until after he committed the crime.

It's very plausible to me that an American who travels to to same developing country dozens of times to have sex with prostitutes he picks up in parks, and who uses local dudes to help him procure underage street girls, might come to the attention of local law enforcement or US law enforcement working in that country.
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Old Jun 9, 2014, 5:18 am
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by halls120
We love it when defendants talk without a lawyer present, and are stupid enough to record their exploits in social media.
Yeah, fantastic. This is how they get their convictions:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/0...ain-about.html
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