US man jailed for child sex tourism in Cambodia

LOS ANGELES - A 61-year-old American man has been jailed for being involved in child sex tourism in Cambodia, after he pleaded guilty to having sex with a teenage girl whom he “rented” from her poor family for $100 a month.

Michael James Dodd, an English teacher, was also ordered by Judge John F. Walter to pay $9,500 in compensation and serve 10 years of supervised release.

Dodd pleaded guilty to travelling to Cambodia to engage in sex with a minor.

He was previously arrested in 2001 in the Northern Mariana Islands near Guam for inappropriately touching 13 underage female students at an elementary school where he worked, Xinhua reported citing the US Attorney’s Office.

After serving time there he moved to Cambodia, where he taught English to students between the ages of 13 and 45, said Steven M. Martinez, FBI assistant director in charge.

He was arrested by Cambodian authorities in 2008 for the sexual activities he was carrying out with the 14-year-old, Martinez said.

Dodd was convicted in a Cambodian court of sexually abusing the girl and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving only 16 months, he was brought back to the US in February.

The accused admitted to having sexual relations on 25 occasions with a minor and paying the Cambodian girl’s destitute family $50 every two weeks so that he could eventually marry the girl.

Dodd also admitted having paying other children for sex in Cambodia, prosecutors said.