GMA NEWS TV
10/29/2008
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – An American man has been charged with soliciting sex from two Cambodian girls, officials said Wednesday.
Michael James Dodd of Washington, DC, was arrested at his rented house in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Sunday, said police Maj. Gen. Bith Kimhong.
He said police who raided the house found the two girls, ages 13 and 14, inside with Dodd.
Dodd was charged during a court appearance on Tuesday, said prosecutor Sok Kalyan. If convicted, Dodd could face up to 10 years in prison, Sok Kalyan said.
The suspect's Cambodian lawyer, So Dara, said his client denied the allegation against him.
Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and law enforcement undermined by corruption. But the country's police and courts have stepped up action against sex offenders in recent years.
A 59-year-old Michael James Dodd is listed as a sexual offender on a Web site of the Department of Law Enforcement of the State of Florida in the US. The listing gives his last registered address as Syracuse, New York.
It was not immediately clear if the man, who was convicted in July 2002 of sexual abuse of a child, was the same man arrested in Phnom Penh. - AP
10/29/2008
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – An American man has been charged with soliciting sex from two Cambodian girls, officials said Wednesday.
Michael James Dodd of Washington, DC, was arrested at his rented house in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Sunday, said police Maj. Gen. Bith Kimhong.
He said police who raided the house found the two girls, ages 13 and 14, inside with Dodd.
Dodd was charged during a court appearance on Tuesday, said prosecutor Sok Kalyan. If convicted, Dodd could face up to 10 years in prison, Sok Kalyan said.
The suspect's Cambodian lawyer, So Dara, said his client denied the allegation against him.
Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and law enforcement undermined by corruption. But the country's police and courts have stepped up action against sex offenders in recent years.
A 59-year-old Michael James Dodd is listed as a sexual offender on a Web site of the Department of Law Enforcement of the State of Florida in the US. The listing gives his last registered address as Syracuse, New York.
It was not immediately clear if the man, who was convicted in July 2002 of sexual abuse of a child, was the same man arrested in Phnom Penh. - AP
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