Suth Bunthorn, the director of the provincial anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection bureau told the press that Tan Saravuth “confessed to touching the boys’ genitals”. The family of one of the boys filed a complaint with the local police said Bunthorn who added that the suspect was able to elude authorities until his arrest by traveling to Thailand and Battambang province.
Saravuth was arrested on Friday in the Daun Penh district of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh reported the NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE). He has been under investigation since the middle of 2016 added the NGO, which means already before the parents of one of the boys filed a complaint in December 2016.
The eleven boys who were not identified by their names are reportedly between 10 and 15 years old. All of the alleged victims were from Takeo’s Tram Kak district where Saravuth has been residing. APLE stated that Saravuth had returned to Cambodia in 1997 and had been living in the province since about 2002, where he, according to police, started to groom local children and built trust with various families by, among others, lending them money before he ultimately took the boys home to his residence.
Dual Cambodian – U.S. Citizen Arrested for Child Sex Abuse – nsnbc international | nsnbc international
APLE’s program director, Khoem Vando, said Saravuth’s Cambodian ID card lists his date of birth as January 30, 1970 while his U.S. passport lists his date of birth as January 1, 1970. U.S. Court Records list his date of birth as January 1, 1960.
Dual Cambodian – U.S. Citizen Arrested for Child Sex Abuse – nsnbc international | nsnbc international
He has previously faced charges related to child sex abuse in the U.S. State of Oregon. Saravut is being provisionally detained at a provincial prison while he is awaiting trial. Considering that he previously tried to evade arrest by crossing the border into Thailand and that he had a U.S. passport too, it is highly unlikely that he will be released before trial.
Source: https://nsnbc.me/2017/04/11/dual-cambodian-u-s-citizen-arrested-for-child-sex-abuse/
