US sentenced to 11 years in prison a child abuser in Ho Chi Minh City

According to the US Embassy in Vietnam, on March 31, Paul Bodner was sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Northern District Court of California, for three times of “traveling with the intent to commit illegal sexual acts”. and once committed the crime of “performing illegal sex acts in a foreign country”.

The case was investigated jointly by the Office of Homeland Security Investigations at the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City (HSI), with the Office of Homeland Security Investigations at San Francisco International Airport and the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. Male.

Between 2010 and 2019, Bodner made annual trips to Vietnam to meet boys. In the course of interviewing the victims, HSI learned that Bodner used the fake name “Kevin” to befriend boys at a local sports center, then invited them to his hotel room to play and take pictures. , abuse the children. The subject also used money and gifts to make the children trust and keep quiet, in order to avoid detection and prosecution.

In January 2020, Bodner was arrested, and Bodner’s residence in the San Francisco Bay area was searched. Criminal proceedings, analysis of Bodner’s messages and social media communications with the victim revealed that Bodner intentionally forged evidence and encouraged witnesses to lie about their age. Bodner pleaded guilty in June 2021.

According to Acting US Consul General Robert Greenan, the case is an unfortunate wake-up call that child sex offenders continue to target vulnerable populations in Vietnam as well as other countries in the region.