Thirteen boys have come forward accusing a French national of sexually abusing them in Kandal province, police said Wednesday.
Lao Lin, chief of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department, said that since the arrest of Bernard Louis Francois Soudeller, 50, in Kandal’s Sa’ang district on Monday, the parents of more than a dozen children had filed complaints against him.
“In total, there are 13 victims, aged 7 to 13,” he said.
According to Mr. Lin, the Frenchman claims to be the director of an ecotourism company called LW Future Investment. An online search of the company produced no results.
“He has denied committing offenses against the boys,” Mr. Lin said. “We are preparing documents and he will be sent to the Kandal court tomorrow.”
According to a statement released Wednesday by Agape International Missions, an anti-human trafficking NGO that assisted police in their investigation of Mr. Soudeller, the mother of a 9-year-old boy told the organization that Mr. Soudeller sexually abused her son.
“The victim and the family were neighbors of Soudeller and the abuses were reported to have taken place in his apartment,” the statement says.
According to Agape, at the time of Mr. Soudeller’s arrest Monday, police found three children, including a 5-year-old, in his apartment.
In a separate case, five boys have accused German national Udo Sabiniewicz, 56—who was arrested in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district Tuesday—of sexual abuse, said Keo Thea, chief of the municipal police’s anti-human trafficking bureau.
“Now we are looking for more victims,” Mr. Thea said Wednesday, adding that those already located had accused the German of molesting them repeatedly.
“They said the suspect committed indecent acts against them and he called the victims to visit his house many times,” he said.
Anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) said in a statement Wednesday that the group was so far aware of six alleged victims.
According to APLE and Mr. Sabiniewicz’s LinkedIn profile, he is the owner of FX Animation Studios, a video dubbing company. In its statement, APLE said the German used his company to lure potential victims.
“Possessing skills and experience in Cartoon Production, the suspect continued his dubbing business and employed male children for this work,” the statement says. “He abused some of these children sexually.”
