California man indicted for traveling to Thailand and sexually abusing minor boys
LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles-area man was charged in a superseding indictment Wednesday with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and sex trafficking of a minor, following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Paul Alan Shapiro, 69, of Montrose, was originally indicted April 22, 2015, on charges relating to his travel to Thailand and illicit sexual conduct with minor boys. According to the indictment, in February 2010, Shapiro traveled from Los Angeles to Thailand, where he paid minors as young as 14 small amounts of local currency to engage in various sex acts with him. Shapiro also allegedly took photographs of himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the boys.
“Child predators cannot flee the United States in the hope of having a safe haven for their criminal conduct,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “To protect the most vulnerable among us, my office will pursue Americans who seek to exploit children in other countries.”
“This indictment should serve as a warning to sexual predators who mistakenly believe they can escape justice by exploiting children overseas,” said Joseph Macias, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles. “There is no tolerance for the sexual abuse of foreign children by our citizens, and HSI will work closely with our law enforcement counterparts throughout the world to ensure these criminals face justice.”
Earlier this month, an HSI investigation resulted in a northern California man being convicted in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles of traveling to Cambodia to have illicit sexual conduct with young girls.
These cases are a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.
Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.
HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.
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