[rapid-response] Honduras: FOUR AMERICAN SEX TOURISTS
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 18th, 1999
CASA ALIANZA AND HONDURAN POLICE CAPTURE FOUR
AMERICANS FOR PIMPING CHILDREN
During late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, April 18th, 1999, a
total of three police raids took place in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, which
culminated with the arrest of four Americans accused of pimping minors.
On the basis of information provided by Casa Alianza through an
anonymous tip off over the Internet, for the past month both the local
Criminal Investigative Unit and Casa Alianza|s Legal Aid Office staff
have been investigating the "Tony Montana Night Club" which operates
without a license in the Colonia Aurora suburb of Honduras| second
largest city. Casa Alianza has documented on hidden cameras the
participation of very young girls as "exotic dancers" who are also offered
to be sexually abused. In private rooms, the girls dance naked for less
than US5 per song. Above the night club is a hotel, with the same owner
as the club, where the girls are taken to be sexually abused.
The four Americans arrested are: Daryell Robert Bucellato who acted as
the club's administrator; Charles Casper (60), the owner; Terry Gobe
Clymire and Russel Ecodt. The four foreigners are all detained in the cells
of the Honduran police. They rejected an
offer to call the American Consul in Tegucigalpa to advise them of their
detention. They are accused of the felonies of pimping underage girls;
the corruption of minors, and the misdemeanors of operating a bar
without a license; having minors in a location where alcohol is sold and
for having minors working a night shift.
Also detained were 17 "dancers", including at least five minors from 14
years old, and 10 waiters. All were detained in the police cells and today
are making declarations. The girls were sent to a forensic doctor to
determine their age and as to whether they
had been sexually abused.
It is suspected that the information regarding the raid by the CID was
filtered by a member of the narcotics section of the Honduran police,
friend of the American owners, because a few minutes before the CID
raid at 11pm, the narcotics police raided the night club.
Despite this inconvenience, the Casa Alianza staff members inside the
night club notified the CID of the presence of many underage girls and
so the CID raid took place at 11:15pm, lasting three hours.
When the police entered the night club, ordering all patrons to lie face
down on the floor, many of the girls tried to hide in the five floors of
hotel rooms, but the police entered each room, detaining everyone.
The third raid in conjunction with the arrest of the Americans took place
at 6am this morning in the house of Casper, the club owner, in the San
Pedro Sula suburb of Colonia San Jose de Sula. The police agents
confiscated dozens of videos and an UZI machine gun. The partner of
Casper, Felicita Mercedes Diaz Reyes (30) was temporarily detained. The
house is registered in the name of Diaz Reyes' brother.
Casa Alianza is coordinating it's actions with the Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI) in the United States and is checking the background
of the four detained Americans. The US extra territorial laws could lead to
the Americans being tried in US Federal Courts and jailed for up to ten
years. Bucellato has a criminal record in his home city of Portland,
Oregon. Before living in San Pedro Sula he lived in Roatan, where it was
also stated that he sexually exploited young girls and, when he moved,
he left many debts.
The case in San Pedro Sula is with the 1st Criminal Judge of Letters,
Jaime Vanegas.
"The investigation and the police action that followed is part of Casa
Alianza's ongoing efforts to protect Honduran children from sexual
abuse and sex tourists", commented Bruce Harris, the Executive Director
for Latin American Programs for Casa Alianza in Costa Rica. "We will
continue to cooperate with both the national and international
authorities to trap any and all foreigners who abuse Honduran children
to make money without caring about the emotional and physical damage
they cause".
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For more information, please contact Casa Alianza Honduras at +504-237-
3750
Visit the Casa Alianza web page at <www.casa-alianza.org>
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Casa Alianza/Covenant House Latin America
SJO 1039
PO Box 025216, Miami FL 33102-5216 USA
Tel. in Costa Rica: +506-253-5439 or 253-6338
Fax in Costa Rica: +506-224-5689
Home page address: http://www.casa-alianza.org
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"In their little worlds in which children have their existence,
there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt,
as injustice...."
Charles Dickens, "Great Expectations"
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