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Bay Area Man Convicted of Sex Crimes Against Minors
LOS ANGELES – A Bay Area man has been found guilty of traveling to Cambodia to have illicit sexual conduct with young girls.
Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 55, a resident of Menlo Park, was convicted of three child exploitation crimes after a six-week trial in federal court. The jury found Boyajian guilty of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in foreign places, and committing these offenses while being required to register as a sex offender.
Boyajian was arrested by the Cambodian National Police (CNP) in February 2009, while on his 35th trip to Asia over a nine-year period. He began traveling to Cambodia shortly after completing his parole following convictions for illegal sex with a minor and oral sex with a minor in 1994.
“The evidence presented at trial showed that Boyajian thought that he could molest and intimidate his young victims with impunity because he was in a foreign country, but he could not have been more mistaken,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Protecting children from sexual exploitation is one of our top priorities, and we will pursue pedophiles across the globe if necessary.”
Prosecutors presented evidence that Boyajian sexually assaulted four victims, girls who were between 8 and 11 years old when Boyajian attacked them. One victim, who was approximately 8 when she was molested, testified at trial that “he was abusive, he was cruel, he treated me like I wasn’t even human.”
Boyajian paid pimps and sometimes relatives from impoverished families to have access to his victims, which he preferred to weigh less than 70 pounds. The victims were Vietnamese immigrants who lived in the poor community of Svay Pak, which is known as Kilo 11 because it is located 11 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh.
Boyajian is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13, at which time he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for each of the two travel offenses and a mandatory consecutive 10-year term for committing these offenses while being required by California law to register as a sex offender. His total sentencing exposure is 130 years in federal custody.”
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Sex Crimes|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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