51-year old US citizen Theodore William Symonds was sentenced to 17 years in jail for the sexual abuse of minors in the Dominican Republic. A note from the US Justice Department says that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) says Symonds had been under investigation since mid 2017. The announcement was made by Benjamin G. Greenberg, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Mark Selby, Special Agent in Charge, ICE-HSI, Miami Field Office. The man had pleaded guilty to traveling to the Dominican Republic for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors.
Symonds was in the Dominican Republic on 23 March 2017, when he was arrested by the local authorities for sexual abuse of minors. As reported, the arrest was part of a joint operation led by the Attorney General’s Office, through the prosecutors’ office in Puerto Plata. Afterwards, the case was followed up by ICE-HSI, leading to the uncovering of proof that enabled his sentencing for sexual abuse of children, both in person and using the Internet. The US prosecutors assigned to this case were Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Kobrinski and Daniel Cervantes.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Greenberg said: “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners stand united against child exploitation and abuse. There is no immunity for these heinous crimes, whether committed at home or abroad. Any individual who victimizes the most vulnerable members of society, our children, can look to today’s sentencing to see there will be severe consequences within the U.S. federal criminal justice system.”
“This sentence should send a powerful message to child predators who believe that they can evade law enforcement by using international travel to engage in this type of reprehensible behavior,” said Mark Selby, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Miami. “Sexual exploitation of children is a despicable crime that will never be tolerated. HSI will continue to work closely with its law enforcement partners around the world so that sexual predators are always brought to justice.”
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20 August 2018
