Alaska Man Sentenced for Child Sex Tourism and Pornography

ANCHORAGE, AK – A 45-year-old Anchorage, Alaska man was sentenced to 18 years in prison after a police tip from a concerned citizen led to an intense FBI investigation. Jason Jayavarman was convicted of what the FBI calls “child sex tourism” after attempting to sexually exploit children in Cambodia.

Jayavarman attempted to arrange a child sex tourism for not only himself but others FBI Officials said. The Anchorage Police Department received a tip that Jayavarman was making frequent trips to Cambodia to have sex with minors. Jayavarman the owner of a popular Anchorage youth hostel, made dozens of trips between 2010 and 2013.

Authorities said that Jayavarman had dual citizenship in the U.S. and his Cambodia, his native country. FBI agents investigating the case learned that during those visits, he recorded videos of him having sex with a child.

An undercover person contacted Jayavarman expressing an interest in child sex tourism.  [Jayavarman]  “talked very openly about the production of child pornography in Cambodia, how to smuggle that pornography back into the U.S., and about his connections in Cambodia and how he could procure young children for his friends—some as young as 12 years old,” Special Agent Jolene Goeden said. Jayavarman was arrested following the collection of the incriminating evidence against him. ”He had purchased his tickets along with those of the undercover source he believed would be accompanying him,” Goeden noted.

FBI Agent Goen said they were able to track a female victim down to interview her after they collected the child of pornography evidence from  Jayavarman’s home. Through the interview, detectives determined that the sexual abuse of the victim began when she was 14 years old. The recording followed a year later with over eight hours of video of Jayavarman having sex with the girl collected.

After his arrest, Jayavarman shared that it was common for very poor families from Vietnam and Cambodia to trade their young daughters for food. “He was definitely a predator,” Goeden said. During recorded conversations with the undercover source, “Jayavarman went on in detail about how to groom a child and what to do to a child,” she said. “It was incredibly graphic and very disturbing.”

FBI officials said that they will investigate and stop anyone who sexually exploit children regardless of where the crimes take place. “Child sex tourism is a serious crime”, Goeden added. “and it happens more than we realize. Some people think that what they do overseas can stay overseas, but that is not the case.

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