German National Is Charged With Debauchery

A German national was charged with debauchery by the Siem Reap Provincial Court on Wed­nesday following a police investigation into an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy, Investigating Judge Ang Mealtey said Thursday.

Tim Edward Schmidt, 35, was ar­rest­ed Monday following statements to police by the alleged victim that Schmidt had molested him many times, most recently at Pop­eye Angkor Guesthouse on Sun­­day night, said Sun Bun­thorng, the provi­­ncial anti-human traf­ficking and juvenile protection bureau police chief.

The victim was not paid by Schmidt but was promised a trip abroad, Sun Bunthorng said, add­ing that Schmidt was unemploy­ed.

The suspect arrived in Cambo­dia in 2000 and had been in and out of the country since then, visiting Siem Reap repeatedly, he said.

The victim’s mother is the suspect’s landlord at a rented house in Angkor Thom district, Sun Bun­­­thorng added. Lim Sour, a man­ager at the Pop­eye Angkor Guest­house, said it was the first time a customer at the ho­tel had been arrested for alleged de­bauchery. The victim’s mother was re­portedly dating the suspect, ac­cording to Beatrice Magnier, di­rec­tor of anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, which brought the case to the police’s attention during a general investigation into Siem Reap pedophilia.

She said the suspect had made fre­­quent visits to Siem Reap and had usually stayed in his rented house. The APLE investigation team became suspicious when they saw the suspect alone with the boy and noticed he was staying at the guesthouse rather than his rent­ed home.

Ang Mealtey said that the mother was previously unaware of the al­­leged molestation but was un­happy about the arrest because she knew the suspect.

Magnier said the results of APLE’s investigation of pedophilia in Siem Reap and other cities were not yet finished but might be made available to the public in a few months.