Diplomatic Security Aids in Return of Ex-Marine Captain Charged With Having Sex With Pre-teen Girls in Cambodia

Victims Allege Defendant Bound and Drugged Them
LOS ANGELES – A retired Marine Corps captain who worked as a teacher in Phnom Penh is being held without bond following his initial appearance in federal court here yesterday on charges stemming from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he engaged in illicit sexual conduct with girls as young as nine while living in Cambodia.

Michael Joseph Pepe, 53, arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday evening under ICE escort after being expelled from Cambodia. Pepe is charged with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, a violation that carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 12. The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Following an investigation involving ICE, the Cambodian National Police (CNP), and the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), Pepe was arrested by the CNP in June 2006. According to the affidavit filed in the case, ICE opened its investigation after receiving information from two non-governmental organizations alleging that Pepe had raped and sexually abused local children using bondage, drugs, and beatings.

According to the case affidavit, ICE agents interviewed four of Pepe’s victims, ranging in age from 9 to 12, who stated that the defendant had sexually abused them. Based on those interviews, CNP officers, accompanied by ICE agents, executed search warrants at Pepe’s residence, seizing a variety of evidence, including rope and cloth strips purportedly used to restrain the victims, child pornography, a computer hard drive, children’s clothes, mood altering drugs, and newspaper articles about pedophiles. A subsequent analysis of Pepe’s computer revealed it contained hundreds of images of nude and semi-clothed children, in some cases bound by the wrists and ankles, performing various sexual acts with a man believed to be Pepe.

“The details of this case are as appalling as any we’ve ever encountered in a sex tourism investigation,” said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. “It is yet another reminder that pedophiles believe they can evade detection and prosecution by committing sex crimes overseas. Fortunately for the world’s young people, foreign authorities and U.S. law enforcement are allied in their resolve to combat this problem and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The affidavit describes how a prostitute Pepe met in a Phnom Penh bar acted as the defendant’s broker, bringing him young victims. According to the broker, Pepe paid the girls’ families an upfront fee and monthly stipend in exchange for unlimited access to the girls for sexual gratification. In one case, the broker admitted receiving a $10 commission for a young victim whose family received $300 for allowing Pepe access to the child.

“The Diplomatic Security (DS) maintains an excellent working relationship with ICE and local Cambodian law enforcement personnel who coordinated and collaborated with the DS Regional Security Officer in Phnom Penh about Pepe, thus enabling the capture,” said Joe D. Morton, Director of the Diplomatic Security Service. “It’s this type of close, worldwide law enforcement liaison that gives the Diplomatic Security the unparalleled ability to assist in locating, pursuing and apprehending predatory criminals.”

Pepe is the fourth person to be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California on child sex tourism charges under the provisions of the PROTECT Act, which was signed into law by President Bush four years ago. The PROTECT Act substantially strengthened federal laws against predatory crimes involving children outside the United States by adding new crimes, increasing sentences, and modifying the burden of proof requirements for federal prosecutors to bring charges.

ICE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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