Cambodia - US American convicted for abusing underage Cambodian boys

A Cambodian court has sentenced an American man to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing two minors. The man is Philip Bruce Shepard, 69, a doctor from Michigan.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted Mr Shepard on Wednesday "for purchasing child prostitution" with two boys, aged 12 and 15, prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot told AFP. 

The man will be deported back to the US after serving his jail term.

The man was working at a private children's hospital in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, a kingdom located in Southeast Asia. The boys' parents had filed a complaint to police who monitored the man's movements and arrested him in July on his way to work, according to the Associated Press.

The anti-paedophile group Action Pour Les Enfants (Action for the Children, APLE) provided legal counsel for the victims and information to the police. APLE first began monitoring the US doctor in 2007 when he was seen walking into a hotel with two underage boys.

Poverty and poor law enforcement turned Cambodia into a magnet for foreign pedophiles, both Asians and Westerners. Anyway, in recent years police and courts have increasingly targeted sex offenders and the Kingdom is not longer a pedophile's haven. Newspapers routinely publish lists of names of local and foreign pedophiles found guilty and condemned for the infamous crime.

Although rich in natural resources, decades of war and internal conflict turned Cambodia into a poverty-stricken land. Today, Cambodia is one of the poorest nations on earth. On average, a Cambodian earns less than $1,000 a year.

The majority of the population survives working on the rice fields, but some of the poorest are landless. 4.8 million people out of a total of 14 million live on less than a dollar a day.

About 90 percent of the poor live in rural areas. Among them, only 18 percent have access to health services, and only half have drinking water.

Alessio Fratticcioli

Digital Journal

Business & Investment Opportunities

YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.