Two US child sex tourists jailed for six years

2009/11/07

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama: Two Americans who traveled to Thailand on three occasions to prey on young boys in sex sessions they filmed and photographed were yesterday each sentenced to more than six years in jail.

Lee Burgess, 44, of Mobile, and Mitchell Kent Jackson, 31, of Pensacola, Florida both admitted to visiting Thailand between 2000 and 2002 to pay to have sex with boys aged between six and 10 years old.

US District Judge Kristi DuBose ordered Burgess and Jackson to serve a six year, five month prison term and said on their release both must register as sex offenders and be subject to a three-year probation period.

The two men had been charged under US laws prohibiting sex with minors in foreign countries introduced in 2003 to crackdown on pedophiles seeking sex with children abroad.

Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are actively involved in tracking down alleged American sex tourists traveling abroad to abuse children.

Thailand has been described as one of the capitals of the world’s sex trade, known for flourishing prostitution and child sex trafficking.

According to the plea agreement, Burgess and Jackson said they had traveled to Thailand with Wayne Nelson Corliss in 2000 who hooked them up with a contact to provide young victims.

Corliss was arrested in May 2008 in his New Jersey home after Interpol released his picture and launched an international manhunt — only the second time the agency had made such a public appeal.

He confessed to molesting Asian boys and sharing pictures of the abuse over the Internet. - AFP