American on trial for sex-tourism overseas

PHILADELPHIA — Seven years ago, Russian courts convicted a wealthy American motel owner of molesting children and sent him to prison, but later decided to just expel him from the country.

The experience did little to keep Anthony "Mark" Bianchi stateside. Over the next few years, he traveled to Moldova, Romania, Cambodia and Cuba — trips all designed, U.S. officials say, to recruit destitute boys for sexual trysts.

Bianchi, 44, of North Wildwood, N.J., went on trial Monday on charges he assaulted nearly a dozen minors on foreign soil. And this time — under a largely untested 2003 law designed to thwart "sex tourism" — he is being tried in federal court in Philadelphia.

More than 50 cases have been brought under what's known as the Protect Act, and so far, more than 30 of the defendants have been convicted, the Justice Department says.

An earlier sex-tourism case involved Michael L. Clark, a 70-year-old man from Seattle who in 2004 became the first person prosecuted under the law. Clark pleaded guilty to molesting boys in Cambodia, while reserving the right to challenge the law itself.

Beyond the constitutional issues — some critics say the law reaches too far in giving international police powers to U.S. authorities — defense attorneys say the cases are a logistical nightmare to defend, in part because they lack the diplomatic and political clout of the U.S. government.

Before Clark's plea, the defense traveled to Cambodia to interview the reported victims.

"To do this in a foreign country, you have to send an investigator over there, and that person has to make contacts in the community. That may not be possible, given the language differences and cultural differences," said Michael Filipovic, an assistant federal public defender in Seattle.

Investigators believe Clark may have molested as many as 50 children. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal of a 9th Circuit ruling that upheld his conviction, leaving him to serve a 97-month sentence.

Other Americans charged to date include a teacher, an anesthesiologist, a Peace Corps volunteer and an 85-year-old man in a wheelchair, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

Bianchi's trial, which began Monday before U.S. District Judge Bruce W. Kauffman, is expected to last three weeks. It is being held in Pennsylvania rather than New Jersey because he flew out of Philadelphia for the alleged sex trips.

Prosecutors charge that Bianchi, through a local translator who helped procure the boys, assaulted nearly a dozen teenagers in exchange for money, liquor, gifts and trips, including trips to Cuba and Romania. The translator, Ion Gusin, is serving a 20-year sentence in Moldova on related charges, and won't be available to testify in person in Philadelphia.

Prosecutors do plan to bring about 20 potential witnesses to the downtown courthouse from remote parts of Moldova and Romania. Few speak English.

"Americans go to these countries and create a pretty bad image," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Levy, a prosecutor in the case. "A hundred dollars can buy a lot of food for a pretty long time for a lot of these families. ... This is the kind of case that shows why there's a need for this [law]."

Mark Geragos, the high-profile lawyer representing Bianchi, said his client is being falsely accused by Moldovan boys who are getting what amounts to a swank prosecution-funded trip to the U.S. in exchange for their testimony.

Other cases

Other travelers prosecuted under the 2003 "sex tourism" law, and the outcome of their cases, according to U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement:

• John W. Seljan, an 85-year-old man arrested en route from Los Angeles to the Philippines with sexual aids and nearly 100 pounds of chocolate in October 2003. Sentenced to 20 years.

• Timothy R. Obert, a 39-year-old man from Santa Cruz, Calif., sentenced to more than four years for sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica.

• Richard A. Schmidt, a 61-year-old former Baltimore schoolteacher who after three child-sex convictions in Maryland was tried for molesting boys in the Philippines and Cambodia in February 2004. Sentenced to 15 years.