Posted on 08/21/2007 6:08:16 PM PDT by Coleus
A wealthy motel owner was convicted Friday of traveling to eastern Europe to sexually assault impoverished boys in exchange for money and gifts. Anthony Mark Bianchi, 44, of North Wildwood, N.J., was found guilty of virtually all the charges he faced in federal court.
Bianchi was convicted of having sex with or attempting to have sex with four boys on foreign soil, including in the isolated Moldovan village of Trebujeni. During the three-week trial, most of which was heard through translators, several Moldovan boys testified that Bianchi assaulted them in small boarding houses where he stayed during his trips.
Mark Geragos, the high-profile lawyer representing Bianchi, said his client enjoyed traveling to offbeat destinations and had no ulterior motives for giving the boys gifts. He said prosecutors had insufficient evidence to support their allegations. He also told jurors that young witnesses gave conflicting statements or were lying on the stand.
Bianchi's case is among more than 50 that have been brought under a largely untested 2003 law that puts Americans accused of preying on children overseas on trial in U.S. courtrooms. About 50 people, including Bianchi, have been charged to date under the law and about 30 of them have been convicted. The logistics of bringing victims and witnesses to a U.S. courthouse, many time zones away, raises constitutional issues that legal scholars expect will reach the Supreme Court.
Geragos said his case was hobbled because he couldn't bring over the defense witnesses he sought. U.S. District Judge Bruce W. Kauffman granted Geragos a post-trial hearing where he could raise the issue. "I am as confident as I can be that the verdict will not stand given everything that transpired in this case," Geragos said.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.nj.com ...
Git a rope.
Hmmm...so Americans have to obey US laws when they go abroad? I’m not defending “sex-tourism”, but what about things like going into hash bars in Amsterdam or smoking cigarettes in bars in Nicaragua or viewing pornography of 17 year olds in Denmark? Not legal here, but legal there.
Give him Death, by Bunga.
Wildwood has always attracted some scuzzy people. I wonder if this guy was also a Carny on the boardwalk.
Rush mentioned something along these lines the other day on his show, but not about this "sex tourism" law... I was shocked to learn that it's illegal for an American to buy or smoke Cuban cigars, anywhere in the world. Rush stated that it's against the law for an American to go to a foreign country which can legally sell Cuban cigars and buy them. And I don't mean to import them back here... It seems that just buying them and smoking them, even in that foreign country IS illegal.
At least that's what Rush said, and he would know.
Mark
With apologies to Freddie Cannon...
“Anthony Bianchi of North Wildwood,New Jersey”
Oh,those Wildwood gays
Wild wild Wildwood gays
And then those party lights
Wild Wild Moldavian nights
Has Geragos (Susan McDougall's Lawyer) ever won a case..?
Wildwood makes the boardwalk at Santa Cruz look wholesome (or at least as depicted in "The Lost Boys."
That’s crazy about the Cuban cigars! I’ve broken that law many times in other countries;)
Bianchi wrote it all down in a sex diary that was introduced as evidence.
He was also convicted of the same crime in Russia a few years back but was given amnesty.
He's been getting away with these crimes for years. Glad they finally nailed him.
Extending American jurisdiction to actions taken strictly on foreign soil, with foreign victims, is a precedent we do not want other nations to follow.
Geraghost , again......
I noted at the end of the article there was a conspiracy so perhaps some acts were perpetrated on US soil. If not, he should've been extradited, tried by foreign courts and faced their sense of justice.
Let's see here: Bianchi, McDougall, Peterson, Ryder, Jackson--oops, Jackson fired him. No, not in his major cases to date. He might get Lohan off on multiple DUI and cocaine charges.
In general, I agree. I would point out that the analogue would be the UK arresting a UK subject for having a CCW in Texas...and waiting for said subject to return to the UK before doing so. Not nice from our POV, but not the same as the UK arresting a US tourist there for legal acts here.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are tens of millions of Americans who don't bother with an international flight to smoke pot. FYI
"... so perhaps some acts were perpetrated on US soil. If not, he should've been extradited, tried by foreign courts and faced their sense of justice."
You could be right. Although not all crimes must be commited on US soil to be prosecuted here. Johnny Jihad found that out first hand. I don't know what extradition agreements we have with the relevant countries, so I couldn't speak to that. Certainly, it's always satisfying when someone as evil as Bianchi gets his due.
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