FBI Sting Targets 'Sex
Tourists' But Raises
Legal Questions
By Vanessa Blum | South
Florida Sun-Sentinel
For a down payment of
$1,675, Jorge Muentes
thought he had booked a
package trip to Costa
Rica, complete with
airfare, hotel
accommodations and 24
hours with a teen
prostitute, according to
federal prosecutors.
But the underground
travel agency promising
to fulfill "all his
personal desires" was
secretly run by the FBI.
When Muentes attempted
to board his flight from
Miami International
Airport to San José on
Nov. 15, federal
authorities arrested the
48-year-old West Palm
Beach father for trying
to arrange sex with a
minor overseas.
Muentes' case, which
goes to trial Monday in
Fort Lauderdale, comes
in the midst of a
federal crackdown on
so-called sex tourists
who molest children
outside the United
States. Since 2003, U.S.
authorities have charged
more than 70 alleged
offenders, often
arresting suspects
abroad or as they step
off flights from
countries like Cambodia,
Thailand, the
Philippines and Costa
Rica.
Those convicted in the
past year include a
Miami Beach businessman
who paid teenage girls
for sex in Cambodia and
a retired St. Petersburg
truck driver who
sexually abused victims
from 7 to 15 years old
on a trip through
Southeast Asia. Both men
returned with
pornographic images
documenting sexual
encounters with multiple
underage victims.
But Muentes' case is
different. It is, in law
enforcement parlance,
"proactive," meaning
would-be offenders are
apprehended before they
strike. That strategy
has drawn criticism from
defense lawyers who say
the tactic amounts to
entrapment and punishes
what might be no more
than a fantasy.
Muentes' attorney, David
O. Markus, wrote in a
brief that the charges
against his client
constitute police action
against "a person's mere
thought to do something
abroad."
"I'm all for catching
child predators," Markus
said. "The problem is
instead of netting the
real criminals, this
sting draws in innocent
people like Jorge
Muentes."
In a court filing,
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Daniel Rashbaum defended
the charges, saying
Muentes took concrete
steps toward having
sexual contact with a
teenager by paying for
the trip and attempting
to board a plane.
"The defendant's actions
constitute far more than
mere thought," Rashbaum
wrote.
Law enforcement
officials declined to
discuss the sting,
saying they did not want
to compromise ongoing
investigations.
Muentes has been married
for 17 years and has a
19-year-old son from a
previous marriage.
Before his arrest,
Muentes made a living
performing household
chores such as cooking
and driving for South
Florida families, his
lawyer said.
According to court
records, Muentes called
the FBI's undercover
travel agency in
September 2007 after
seeing an advertisement
in an adult magazine
offering all-inclusive
vacations with "clean,
fun-loving companions of
varying ages." The
company supposedly is
based in Fort
Lauderdale.
Once Muentes made
contact, the FBI agent
called him repeatedly,
up to three times in a
single day, until he
finalized his trip.
Prosecutors contend
Muentes asked for dates
with two female escorts,
a 14- to 16-year-old as
well as a 21-to
24-year-old. Upon his
arrival in San José, he
was to meet a man named
"Jorge" and choose the
women from a photo
album.
Markus contends that
even if Muentes
considered having sex
with a teenager, there
is no evidence he would
have acted on those
desires once in Costa
Rica. Having sex with a
woman 18 or older, even
paid sex, would not have
been a crime because
adult prostitution is
legal in Costa Rica.
Muentes has no criminal
record or history of
abusing children, Markus
said. If convicted, he
faces a mandatory
10-year sentence.
The sex-tour sting has
been in play for years
and has snared more than
a dozen men, including a
Vietnam War veteran from
New York whose case is
also set for trial in
Fort Lauderdale later
this month.
The fake travel agency
has operated under
different names,
including Costa Rica
Taboo Vacations. Its
current Web site offers
"an all inclusive travel
service that is truly
all inclusive" and asks
visitors to specify a
preferred age, starting
at 12 and under.
It might once have been
that what tourists did
overseas fell beyond the
reach of U.S. law
enforcement. But that is
no longer the case,
federal officials
emphasized.
"Predators who think
that they can evade the
reach of U.S. laws by
traveling abroad to
sexually exploit
children are sorely
mistaken," said Anthony
Mangione, special
agent-in-charge of the
Miami office of U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. "We will
use every resource at
our disposal to track
them down."
The recent surge in sex
tourism cases can be
traced to a tough
measure passed by
Congress in 2003 that
increased penalties for
child sex offenders and
closed a loophole that
frequently had blocked
prosecutors from going
after Americans for sex
crimes committed on
foreign soil.
Some defense lawyers and
civil-liberties
advocates question
whether the government
is overreaching by
prosecuting U.S.
citizens for their
actions abroad,
especially if they do
not break the laws of a
foreign country.
However, the cases are
holding up in court, and
prosecutors have a near
perfect conviction rate.
Drew Oosterbaan, chief
of the Justice
Department's Child
Exploitation and
Obscenity Section, said
it makes sense to take
such crimes seriously.
"These are pedophiles or
sexual predators who go
overseas and do horrible
things to kids, and then
they're coming back to
your community,"
Oosterbaan said.
"Psychologists will tell
you this is a sexual
predilection that
doesn't go away."
Even with the new law,
however, sex tourism
cases can be challenging
and expensive to pursue.
In the time it takes to
build a case, victims
disappear, witnesses
balk at testifying and
evidence collected by
foreign governments may
not be handled according
to U.S. standards.
In contrast, sting
operations that
intercept men before
they board a plane are
cheap and easy to
prosecute. The cases
rely almost entirely on
suspects' own statements
to undercover FBI agents
during recorded phone
calls.
Joseph Mettimano,
advocacy director of the
international child
welfare group World
Vision, said he hopes
those arrests serve to
deter others.
His group runs a
multimillion-dollar
media campaign warning
travelers that having
sex with minors abroad
can result in jail time
back home.
"Americans aren't
getting away with
impunity on this
anymore," Mettimano
said. "The threat of
prosecution and
imprisonment is very
real." |
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