Have You Seen This Alleged Paedophile

[Tompa]

I can’t post in the News forum so if the mods want to move this to another forum please be my guest.

This is in the newspapers around the world at the moment. Chances are unfortunately high that the guy has been in Thailand (or still is) at some point. For more details see link,

http://www.interpol.int/

[Guest Reimar]

The rules for this kind of topics:

These topics are restricted to official news only - topic closed - please PM moderator with news items to add.

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[lopburi3]

[lopburi3]

Suspected paedophile arrested after photo campaign

U.S. officials arrested a suspected paedophile on Thursday, less than 48 hours after Interpol launched a worldwide search for the man by publishing photos of him on the Internet, the global police body said.

It was Interpol's second public appeal to identify a suspected child sex predator after its first such campaign last year led to the arrest and trial of a Canadian in Thailand.

Interpol had posted pictures of a white-haired, balding man on its website on Tuesday, saying they were part of a series that showed him sexually abusing boys aged between six and 10 in Southeast Asia.

In a statement on its website on Thursday, Interpol named the suspect as Wayne Nelson Corliss, 59, from Union City, New Jersey, and said he was due to appear in a U.S. District Court.

"Two days ago, this man's nationality, identity, and location were totally unknown ... That two days later, the primary suspect is now in custody is an outstanding achievement," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble.

Corliss was arrested in Newark, New Jersey, in the early hours of Thursday by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Interpol said the arrest was as a result of independent tips provided via the Internet to its headquarters in Lyon, France, by three people living in the United States.

The Interpol website received almost 250,000 visits in the first 24 hours of the appeal -- more than 10 times the normal daily average.

The suspect featured in approximately 100 images in a series of around 800 which showed the sexual abuse of at least three young boys and which were believed to have been taken in southeast Asia in 2000 and 2001.

The first pictures of the man were found by police in Norway in March 2006.

- Reuters

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/id...-33481620080508

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This photo released the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency shows ICE agents, their faces digitally altered by the source, escorting suspected pedophile Wayne Nelson Corliss, 58, center, from his apartment building in Union City Jersey after his arrest. Corliss was arrested just two days after Interpol made a rare appeal for public help in the international manhunt to catch him, the police agency said.

Associated Press

'Best Santa ever' arrested on child sex charges

NEWARK, N.J. � A rare international alert seeking a man shown in dozens of raw child porn images quickly led to the arrest of a small-time actor, who painted faces at children's parties and performed as "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen."

Wayne Nelson Corliss told authorities he had sex with three boys in Thailand six years ago, an experience he described as "euphoria," a prosecutor said Thursday at Corliss' first court appearance.

The arrest of the bespectacled, gray-haired 58-year-old at his Union City apartment late Wednesday capped a two-day global manhunt, just the second time Interpol has sought the public's help in tracking down a suspected pedophile. He is believed to have sexually abused at least three boys thought to have been 6 to 10 years old, according to the international police agency.

Corliss is charged with producing child pornography and could face 10 to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark.

At Thursday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan said Corliss told the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who arrested him that he had sex with three boys over three nights in Thailand in 2002. "He described it as 'euphoria' to the agents," Vartan said.

Vartan also said agents found about 1,000 images of child pornography on computer hard drives in the apartment. They also found several pairs of boys' underwear, including one that Corliss told authorities he brought back from Thailand as a souvenir, the prosecutor said.

Corliss, who spoke only twice during the court appearance, said he was a comedy writer and a member of the Screen Actors Guild. He asked for a lawyer to be appointed to him but was not asked to enter a plea. He was being held without bond pending a hearing Monday.

A SAG spokeswoman said the union does not confirm who is or is not a member.

Neighbors and colleagues know Corliss, who acted under the stage name Casey Wayne, as a witty man who liked to write and eschewed 9-to-5 jobs in favor of acting and entertainment gigs � including painting faces and playing Santa Claus at parties.

Judy Stone, a neighbor who worked with him as an entertainer at corporate parties, art fairs and bar mitzvahs, said he did a wonderful job.

"He's the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen," Stone said. "I've never seen him act in a way that was creepy or predatory toward children."

Raven Squire, the superintendent of the apartment building where Corliss has lived for more than two decades, said Corliss was very computer savvy and had a cluttered apartment, but that he never saw anything inappropriate there.

"He's a very amiable man, a great sense of wittiness," Squire said. "He seemed very stable, always paid his rent."

Corliss' arrest came two days after Interpol took the rare step of asking for the public's help. Two years of investigation had failed to determine the identity, whereabouts or even the nationality of the man seen in the pictures.

Interpol's secretary general, Ronald Noble, said 460 leads flooded in within the first 24 hours after the agency launched its public appeal Tuesday. Three of those leads, e-mailed to Interpol from people in the United States who thought they recognized the man but who requested anonymity, were particularly strong, and all referred to the suspect by the name Casey Wayne, Noble said.

The leads also came with photographs of the man and other details about him, including a resume for Corliss that described him as "an acclaimed portrayer of Santa Claus every winter holiday season" who played at parties for New York banks and others, Noble said.

"That brought him into contact with children on a regular basis," Noble said.

In one of the e-mails, an informant wrote: "I think I know this man ... He is a good man and I am shocked!" said Noble.

It was only the second time that Interpol had launched such a public manhunt for a suspected pedophile. The first time, in October, led to the quick arrest by police in Thailand of Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian. Neil went on trial in March, accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy.

Photos seized by police in Norway in 2006 showed the abuse and appeared to have been taken in Thailand, the international police agency said. The man did not appear to make any effort to hide his identity in the photos seized from the computer of a man later convicted of child sex offenses, officials said.

Photos released by Interpol showed a gray-haired white man wearing glasses or lying on a checkered mattress or blanket in a yellow plaid shirt.

A computerized Interpol database of child abuse images played a part in the manhunt. The first photos seized in Norway and others received in the two years since were run through the database of more than 520,000 images.

In all, the database and police investigations helped turn up a total of around 800 images, including nearly 100 of the man himself and others of his suspected victims or places where he is thought to have committed his alleged crimes, Interpol said.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose agents arrested Corliss, he traveled extensively in Asia, including making apparent trips to Thailand in 2000 and 2002.

"I've worked many children's parties with him. Whatever he did in Thailand, he did in Thailand," said Stone, the woman who has worked with him. "Whatever he did ... he didn't do it here or convey that in his work with children."

- Associated Press

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/5765643.html

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Wayne Nelson Corliss, right, of Union City, N.J., is seen in an artist's drawing in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J.

Associated Press

No bail for N.J. man in Thailand child porn case

NEWARK, N.J. � A small-time actor who allegedly traveled to Thailand to have sex with underage boys is being held without bail in New Jersey.

A federal judge on Monday decided that Wayne Nelson Corliss is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Corliss was arrested Thursday at his Union City home after an international manhunt. Interpol released photos of him last week and asked for the public's help in identifying him.

He is charged with producing child pornography. Authorities say agents discovered numerous images on several computer hard drives and that Corliss told authorities he had sex with three boys in Thailand six years ago.

The 58-year-old Corliss worked painting faces at children's parties and used to dress up as Santa Claus.

- Associated Press / 13-05-08

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ihdJN2n...-BCe9gD90K98NG5

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Suspect admits more child-sex visits to Asia, authorities say

A New Jersey actor and comedy writer who confessed last week to sexually abusing three young boys in Thailand in 2002 also molested children on two previous trips to the Southeast Asian nation, authorities said yesterday.

Wayne Nelson Corliss, whose arrest followed an international manhunt by Interpol, traveled to Thailand in 2000, 2001 and 2002 with the express intention of abusing boys, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan said at a bail hearing for Corliss in federal court in Newark.

On one trip, Vartan said, the 58-year-old Union City man brought along a child-size "I Love New York" T-shirt. Authorities later found a photo of Corliss raping a boy who was wearing the shirt, the prosecutor said.

"There are those that possess child pornography to look at, and then there are those who produce and star in their own child pornography," Vartan said, calling Corliss a "real and immediate danger" to the community.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Shipp ordered that Corliss continue to be held without bail at the Hudson County Jail.

In a press briefing after the hearing, investigators said they're trying to determine whether Corliss abused children in New Jersey, where he frequently performed as Santa Claus and other characters at kids' parties, family-friendly corporate gatherings and fairs.

Horrific as the details of the case may be, Interpol agent Nick Moran said, Corliss is just one of thousands of men who travel to Southeast Asia each year to have sex with children, a problem that Moran contends the international community must better address.

"The exploitation that goes on in Southeast Asia by Western men is so bad that the money corrupts even the mothers," Moran said. "Mothers have been known to sell their own children."

Corliss confessed that during the 2002 trip, he paid an unidentified woman to let him have sex with three boys between the ages of 6 and 10, authorities have said. The videotaped trysts later were posted on the internet.

Last week, Interpol released a handful of sanitized photos, asking for the public's help in identifying the man in them. Among hundreds of leads that came in from around the world, three immediately captured investigators' interest. All three identified the man as Casey Wayne, Corliss' stage name.

When agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement searched Corliss' apartment late Wednesday, they found more than 1,000 images of child pornography on a single computer hard drive, authorities said.

They also found several pairs of boys' underwear, one of which Corliss admitted taking from a victim as a "souvenir," the prosecutor said.

Corliss is charged with production of child pornography, a count that carries up to 20 years in prison, with a minimum of 10 years behind bars. Authorities say additional charges could be filed as the investigation develops.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles, Corliss remained composed during yesterday's brief hearing.

Teri Paris, a woman who attended the hearing and who identified herself as a close friend of Corliss since the early 1970s, defended him, tears gathering in her eyes as she described the assistance and support Corliss offered her through several surgeries.

"He's a marvelous person," said Paris, who lives in upstate New York and who, like Corliss, works in the entertainment industry. "He's ill, and he needs help."

She said Corliss grew up in Maine, attended Colby College for a year and then moved to New York City, where he worked as a stand-up comedian and acted in off-Broadway shows. Records show Corliss moved to Union City about 15 years ago. Paris said she never saw signs that Corliss was sexually interested in children.

Though he has appeared in a handful of low-budget films, among them the 2007 slasher movie "Razor's Ring," Corliss is better known in the industry as a writer for comedians and television, Paris said. She declined to name his clients.

"He's a good person," Paris said. "He's a good friend, and I'm going to miss him dearly in my life."

- Ledger-Star (New Jesey, USA) (today)

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index...&thispage=1