N.J. motel owner guilty of 'sex tourism' By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer

N.J. motel owner guilty of 'sex tourism' By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 15 minutes ago



PHILADELPHIA - A wealthy motel owner was convicted Friday of traveling to Europe to molest impoverished boys in exchange for money and gifts.

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Anthony Mark Bianchi, 45, was convicted of having sex with or attempting to have sex with at least six teenage boys in the isolated Moldovan village of Trebujeni. He faces more than 20 years in prison under sentencing guidelines, prosecutors said.

Bianchi, who has been in prison since his January 2006 arrest, showed little reaction as the jury read its verdict.

During the three-week trial, most of which was heard through translators, several Moldovan boys testified that Bianchi invited them to have dinner or go bowling with them, then made sexual advances.

One boy said Bianchi raped him, and one said he was assaulted while he was intoxicated. Another said Bianchi fondled him in bed.

Bianchi's attorney, Mark Geragos, said his client, who lives in North Wildwood, N.J., enjoyed traveling to offbeat destinations and had no ulterior motives for giving the boys gifts. He noted discrepancies in the boys' statements and suggested they told prosecutors what they wanted to hear to snag a trip to the United States.

"I am as confident as I can be that the verdict will not stand given everything that transpired in this case," Geragos said.

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 have been charged under the law and about 30 of them have been convicted, including a teacher and a Peace Corps volunteer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenya Mann twice traveled to remote European villages to pursue the case against Bianchi.

"It's hard. It's costly. But they're really important cases," she said.

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 prosecutors hobbled his case by threatening to arrest his Moldovan co-counsel on suspicion of witness intimidation if he went to Philadelphia to testify. U.S. District Judge Bruce W. Kauffman granted Geragos a post-trial hearing at which he could raise the issue.

Kauffman set Bianchi's sentencing for Nov. 1.