# News Release {#news-release .Facsimile-Line}

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## CONVICTED CHILD SEX TOURIST ORDERED TO COMPENSATE TEENAGE VICTIMS OVERSEAS

###### Award of restitution is first in child sex tourism case brought under PROTECT Act

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LOS ANGELES -- A U.S. District Court judge has ordered a San Diego man
convicted of traveling to the Philippines to have sex with disadvantaged
boys to pay his victims restitution, marking the first award of its kind
in a child sex tourism case prosecuted under the recently passed PROTECT
Act.

At a hearing in Los Angeles this morning, United States District Judge
R. Gary Klausner finalized an order requiring Edilberto Datan, 61, to
pay \$16,475 in restitution to eight of his teenage victims in the
Philippines. The boys were identified and located by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents aided by officers from the
Philippine National Police.

Under an agreement worked out by the U.S. Attorney's Office and ICE, the
payment of the restitution is being overseen by the international
humanitarian organization, World Vision. The money will provide for two
years of medical, psychological, and occupational therapy for the
youths, who were 14 and 15 years of age when the crimes occurred.
According to court papers filed today, all eight boys continue to suffer
mentally and emotionally from the sexual abuse Datan committed during
his Philippine vacation.

"Every day children are sexually exploited by men from the United States
in places like the Philippines, Cambodia and Costa Rica," said Joseph
Mettimano, Director of World Vision's Child Sex Tourism Prevention
Project. "While the restitution cannot undo the damage that has been
done, it will provide for much needed counseling and other services for
some of the young boys that were assaulted."

Datan was arrested in November 2004 at Los Angeles International Airport
when he returned from a trip to the Philippines and a search of his
luggage turned up hundreds of sexually explicit images of underage boys.
He pleaded guilty in March to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with
minors and producing child pornography outside the United States. The
retired auditor was sentenced in June to 17 years in federal prison and
lifetime supervision.

"Not only did Datan sexually violate these young boys, but he added to
their humiliation by photographing his sexual exploits," said Michael
Unzueta, special agent-in-charge of ICE investigations in San Diego.
"This investigation illustrates the importance of the tremendous
cooperation ICE's agents here and overseas have received from our law
enforcement counterparts and agencies in the Philippines."

Datan was the second person to be found guilty of child sex tourism
charges in the Central District of California under the provisions of
the PROTECT Act. The PROTECT Act substantially strengthened federal laws
against predatory crimes involving children outside the United States by
adding new crimes, increasing sentences and modifying the burden of
proof requirements for federal prosecutors to bring charges.

Datan's arrest is part of Operation Predator, an ongoing ICE enforcement
initiative to identify, investigate, arrest and, in the case of foreign
nationals, deport child sex predators. Since the initiative began in
July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 6,200 individuals
nationwide, including more than 1,600 in California.

ICE encourages the reporting of suspected child predators and any
suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE.
This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported
to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation
Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or
[http://www.cybertipline.com.]{.underline}

\# ICE \#

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was established in March 2003
as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century
law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key
homeland security priorities.

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