Florida man gets life in prison for traveling to Vietnam to sexually abuse minor

It definitely can be. It doesn’t have to be that egregious to fall under those laws. Philosophically I think you should be tried in the country where the crime was committed if it didn’t involve an American victim. Perhaps you could be tried here if you were unable to be extradited. However this was so egregious they can bury him under the jail for all I care.

Sex tourism has always been illegal and perps are supposed to be dealt with legally when they get home. Other countries have been more diligent about enforcing these laws.


It's like if you fuckba 16 year old in Nevada coz that's the age of consent. When you bring her to California it's kidnapping taking a minor across state lines and you're committing statutory rape.


I think these laws need to be stricter and enforced to the fullest.

Go to another country as a sex tourist get arrested when you come back. Have under cover authorities in sex tourist destinations keeping track of Americans. Work with their authorities more

===> "Florida man gets life in prison for traveling to Vietnam to sexually abuse minor"

Good. Fuck him. I won't pretend to understand the legal niceties involved, but if you sexually abuse a child then you deserve whatever's coming to you.

The FEDS put a law in place quite a while ago that says boarding an airplane or other vessel with the intent to conduct an act that would be illegal if it was done in the States counts as a concrete step toward committing that crime and thus you can be tried here if they find out about it. It was put in place for the Asian Sex tour thing but I'm sure they would happily apply it to any other crimes that became a hot topic.

I'm 100% okay with that guy being in prison for life. Fuck that guy.

Sgtsnowman - Theoretically, if a buy travels to say, the Dominican Republic and stays at the Oxygen Retreat (https://www.oxygenretreat.com/), he could be arrested upon return to the states? Could the same be said for enjoying Cannabis coffee shops in Amsterdam? What about drinking unpasteurized milk in the UK?

Drinking unpasteurized milk or smoking weed isn't on par with sex tourism and child sexual exploitation

2Icee - I'm not saying they're equal. But, I'm trying to understand the position you and Sgtsnowman are mentioning. Consider the following scenarios: A US citizen travels to another country and...

1) Breaks what would be a US law, that is otherwise legal (or at least, not illegal) in the destination country (Eg., Escorts in DR, not wearing seatbelts in Yemen, desecrating an American flag in Afghanistan, etc). But, he still gets tried when returning, as though the law were broken here (Similar to the Nevada 16yo consent law).

2) Breaks what would be a US law, that is ALSO illegal in the destination country. Even though he may get away with it there, he still gets tried when returning, as though the law were broken here.

3) Breaks "selectively" what would be a US law (e.g., sex with a minor, but not gambling aboard a cruise ship), that is either legal OR illegal in the destination country. Either way, he still gets tried when returning, as though the law were broken here.

If #3, would you envision a separate code of US law enforcement that spells out what can be done elsewhere, but is illegal here, and what cannot?

The problem isn't prosecuting people for acts outside the US. The problem is irrational laws that exist due to political grandstanding. We are supposed to be about individual freedom in this country. The burden of proof is on the government that sex work is always bad for sex workers, or that pot is worse than alcohol. They haven't met it.

As an American citizen. American laws apply to you no matter where you are. That's why extradition laws exist.

This isnt how government or anything is supposed to work. Taxpayer dollars aren’t supposed to be used to regulate international activity done by citizens. It should be the vietnamese governments responsibility to handle this, not the US governments. But it is interesting this happened, I doubt they will apply this sort of logic fairly or equally considering all the billion dollar companies using slave labor in foreign countries. And the question becomes what about the different states with different laws. Or drug and alcohol laws in other countries. You used to be able to go to other countries and follow the laws of that country when it came to using any drugs you wanted, using prostitutes, and more.

You can go to other countries and be subject to their drug and prostitution laws....


It's not complicated. Don't do what you're not supposed to.