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.
© 2006 – 2014, All rights reserved.
