A Canadian man, whom the Phnom Penh Municipal Court cleared of child sexual abuse charges in 2004, is being sought by Thai police for allegedly paying to have sex with an 8-year-old boy, according to news reports Thursday.
Orville Frank Mader, 54, was released on July 16, 2004 by municipal court Judge Kong Sarith because one of the two alleged victims—boys aged 11 and 14—retracted his claim of sexual abuse.
After his arrest in February 2004, Mader admitted to a reporter that he had engaged in “sex play” with underage boys. “The boys were expressing their sexuality and I felt honored to be part of that,” Mader told the reporter in an interview at the municipal court.
Thai police in Pattaya announced Thursday that they issued an arrest warrant for Mader who allegedly paid $15 to have sex with an 8-year-old boy, the Toronto Star newspaper reported.
Officers recovered a copy of Mader’s passport from Ben’s Mansions hotel in Pattaya, the same place where Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Neil—the recently arrested subject of a worldwide manhunt—stayed three weeks ago, the Star reported.
Kong Sarith, who released Mader when he was arrested in Phnom Penh in 2004, could not be reached for comment. Ngeth Sarath, who prosecuted Mader’s case and has now been promoted to the Appeal Court, declined to comment Thursday as to why the Canadian was released. Ngeth Sarath did say that he remembered that Mader had been jailed for five months before his case was brought to trial.
Keo Thea, municipal anti-trafficking deputy police chief, said that he remembered Mader well. “[Mader] always played sex with boys,” he said. “When we raided his house we found around eight boys inside.”
Kek Galabru, president of local rights group Licadho, said the fact that Mader is being sought in Thailand for crimes he escaped punishment for in Cambodia is frustrating.
“Elsewhere, they implement the law better,” she said.
