Canadian Living In Thailand Arrested For Child Pornography

[sriracha john]

Canadian Man Arrested in United Kingdom on U.S. Charges of International Sex Tourism

WASHINGTON – John Wrenshall, 62, was arrested today on charges of conspiring to travel in foreign commerce with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with children; aiding and abetting sex tourism; and conspiracy to produce, production of, and distribution of child pornography, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Matthew Friedrich and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Ralph J.Marra Jr. announced.

Wrenshall, a Canadian citizen living in Thailand, was arrested at London’s Heathrow International Airport early this morning by London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MET) with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A provisional arrest warrant had been issued for Wrenshall through coordination with British officials, MET, ICE and the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. Wrenshall is being detained pending extradition from the United Kingdom.

A grand jury in the District of New Jersey returned an indictment against Wrenshall, unsealed today upon his arrest, on Aug. 25, 2008. Wrenshall is charged with one count of conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, two counts of aiding and abetting sex tourism, one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography, seven counts of production of child pornography, and seven counts of distribution of child pornography. The charges stem from Wrenshall’s alleged involvement with U.S. citizens who traveled to Thailand to sexually abuse children and produce visual depictions of that abuse. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of sex tourism, a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of child pornography production, and up to 15 years in prison for distribution of child pornography. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 per count.

According to the unsealed indictment and court documents, Wrenshall had frequent access to Thai boys, some as young as six years old, at his Thailand home. As charged in the indictment, from at least as early as May 2000, Wrenshall helped arrange trips to his home during which U.S. citizens and others paid Wrenshall money to engage in sexual acts with the boys, sometimes for weeks at a time. Wrenshall’s customers were allowed to videotape and photograph their abuse. An indictment is merely a charge and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and CEOS Trial Attorney Michael Yoon. The case was investigated by Interpol and ICE.

- U.S. Department of Justice Press Release / 2008-12-15

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3 counts x 15 years = 45 years

8 counts x 20 years = 160 years

7 counts x 15 years = 105 years

Total time he's facing is 310 years in prison (plus a fine of up to US$4,500,000 for 18 counts)

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This case is directly related to three other threads involving the accused defendant:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/American-Ple...-C-t222957.html

Two Americans Plead Guilty To Child Sex Charges While In Thailand

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/American-Ple...-C-t219929.html

American Pleads Guilty To Child Sex Charges While In Thailand, faces up to 75 years in prison for sex with boys as young as 6

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Alleged-Paed...le-t187337.html

Have You Seen This Alleged Pedophile

Edited December 16, 2008 by sriracha john

[Maestro]

There’s a short article about the arrest on page 5 of today’s printed version of the Bangkok Post but not the online version. (For copyright reasons I won’t scan and post it)

--

Maestro

[Jai Dee]

Calgary man accused of organizing Thai boy sex ring

A Canadian man accused of being the "lead organizer" of a sex tourism business connecting foreign pedophiles to boys as young as four from his home in Thailand had been the target of an international investigation for several months, a U.S. assistant district attorney said Tuesday.

John Wrenshall, 62, a former Calgary scout leader who was convicted in 1997 of sexually assaulting a series of choir boys, was arrested Monday at London's Heathrow Airport on his way home to Canada.

It is alleged that Wrenshall arranged trips by U.S. sex tourists and others to his home in Thailand where they would pay to engage in sex with boys, sometimes for weeks at a time.

U.S. prosecutor Lee Vartan told Canwest News Service it is alleged customers were allowed to videotape and photograph the abuse.

Vartan said authorities believe the abuses have been occurring since at least May 2000, and that some of the victims had been living inside Wrenshall's home near Bangkok for years.

"This is one of the most egregious cases I've seen during my time here and one of the most unfortunate," Vartan said, adding authorities believe "it involves multiple victims, all young boys being abused each and every day . . . and it was happening for money."

Authorities believe they have arrested the "lead organizer of this sex tourism business," Vartan added.

Wrenshall was arrested on a warrant stemming from an indictment handed down last August by a grand jury in New Jersey. It was the culmination of a joint investigation by American, Thai and Canadian authorities that had been going on for several months, Vartan said.

Wrenshall faces 18 counts related to pedophilia and pornography including one count of conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, two counts of aiding and abetting sex tourism, one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography, seven counts of production of child pornography and seven counts of distribution of child pornography.

"We were keeping our eyes on him in Thailand and had put in a request with Thai authorities to extradite him," Vartan said from New Jersey. "We had been working on that for several months, monitoring his movements."

Wrenshall will be held in London pending an extradition to the United States to face the charges.

Vartan said this process typically can take "several months" as authorities anticipate he will object to the order.

Although more charges are not expected to be laid in the U.S., it is expected that investigators from a number of countries will be making attempts to identify alleged clients.

If that can be done, there may be more charges pending in numerous international courts.

Vartan said Thai authorities will also continue their investigation into identifying the victims involved in Wrenshall's case.

If convicted, Wrenshall faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of sex tourism, a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of producing child pornography, and up to 15 years in prison for distributing child pornography. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 per count.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Sylvie Tremblay said Tuesday in Ottawa that they were involved in the international investigation into Wrenshall but could not elaborate to the extent of their role.

Wrenshall was sentenced to a year in jail in 1997 for indecently assaulting eight choir boys at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer in Calgary over more than three decades.

The former scout master, then 51, was able to lure the boys to his home under the pretence that he was running a study on preteen boys' sexuality. During his trial, Wrenshall admitted that he also had molested at least a dozen other boys aged nine to 12. He was never charged in the latter incidents.

He was also convicted in Canada of a similar offence in 1970, the records say.

Terry Fullerton, choir director at Church of the Redeemer from 1973 to 1995, said he hadn't heard from Wrenshall since asking him to leave the church in the '80s because of allegations of sexual improprieties.

"I'm very disappointed that whatever treatment he had doesn't seem to do any good," said Fullerton.

Vartan said the accused is connected to three convicted pedophiles in the United States.

The link was discovered in August 2008 after authorities seized computer equipment in the case of Wayne Corliss, 59, of New Jersey.

Forensic investigators were able to locate numerous chat logs and photos between Wrenshall and Corliss detailing the sex business that the Canadian allegedly ran out of his Thailand home.

Corliss pleaded guilty Oct. 28 in New Jersey to sex tourism and to producing child pornography. Corliss said he travelled to Thailand every year from 2000 to 2002 for the purpose of having sex with young boys. He said he would stay at Wrenshall's home, where boys were made available to him for a price.

"This individual (Corliss) engaged in among the most depraved conduct imaginable with helpless children," said U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie following Corliss's guilty plea. "Others involved in illicit sex tourism should take notice that, just like Mr. Corliss, law enforcement around the globe has the ability to locate you, prosecute you and send you to federal prison for a very long time."

The seized chat logs also implicated Wrenshall in the cases of Burgess Lee Burgess, 44, of Mobile, Ala., and Mitchell Kent Jackson, 31, of Pensacola, Fla.

Both men admitted that they had travelled to Thailand for two years to sexually abuse children. They said that they were part of an Internet chat group dedicated to men with a sexual interest for young boys. Both Wrenshall and Corliss were part of this group. It was through these chats that Wrenshall allegedly invited the three men to his home in Thailand.

Burgess and Jackson will be sentenced in April 2009 and could face a maximum term of 30 years in prison.

Adul Pinsuvana, director of the AUA Thailand Language Center in Bangkok, said Wrenshall worked for him as a teacher and then later as a supervisor before recently resigning to return to Canada.

Pinsuvana said that when he heard of the arrest, he couldn't believe it.

"I thought at first it was a joke or something," said Pinsuvana. "When I saw the news report, I was shocked."

Wrenshall's alleged involvement in the ring is the second time in two years that a Canadian has been linked to sex crimes against minors in Thailand.

Christopher Paul Neil, a Maple Ridge, B.C., teacher, was arrested in October 2007 by Thai police after an international child pornography investigation unscrambled altered images of him engaging in sexual acts with Thai boys.

Neil, 33, who had lived in South Korea before moving to Thailand to continue teaching, was convicted in June of kidnapping and sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy, and was sentenced to 39 months in prison. In November, he was convicted on more charges against a second youth, which extended his sentence by six years.

Source: Calgary Herald - 17 December 2008

[Jai Dee]

Man charged in Thai sex-tourism case convicted in Canada on similar charges

Former Calgarian lied about losing company, selling house to settle civil suits

Special to The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) / December 17, 2008

A decade ago, a 50-something John Wrenshall went to Bangkok to teach English, stating in his résumé that he had left his Calgary software company to pursue "travel and personal development goals."

In fact, he had lost his company and had to sell his house and his car to settle civil suits by five Albertans [Canadian province] who said he had molested them when they were minors.

Mr. Wrenshall, the 62-year-old Canadian charged this week with running a pedophile sex-tourism business in Bangkok, had already been convicted twice in Canada on sex-related charges involving young boys.

At least 20 boys as young as nine were indecently assaulted by Mr. Wrenshall, from 1961 to the mid 1980s , according to court evidence in Calgary.

A former scoutmaster and Anglican choir member at Calgary's Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Mr. Wrenshall has a master's degree in sociology.

He lured his victims on the pretense that he was conducting a study on preteen boys' sexuality, the court was told.

After receiving a suspended sentence in 1970, he undertook two years of counselling.

After he reoffended, a judge sentenced him in 1997 to one year in jail and two years probation, saying that would be a "satisfactory deterrent."

The period he was behind bars is described on his CV as "study/travel in Thailand" while being a consultant for the firm he founded, Rinax Systems.

Afterward, Mr. Wrenshall got a teaching certificate from Vancouver's Columbia College and moved to Thailand in 1998.

Two years later, he was pimping young Thai boys, charging up to $400 a boy and recruiting his johns in an Internet chat room called Boy Love and Chat, according to testimony in a New Jersey case.

Mr. Wrenshall kept a connection with his country of origin, the evidence in the U.S. case alleges:

The revenues were wired to a Canadian bank.

In Canada, news of the arrest shocked a former acquaintance who remembered him as a well-read, conscientious man with a fondness for his very old dog. "This is a shocking revelation," said business consultant Vasile Zamfirescu. "Professionally, he was outstanding." Already in 1991, Mr. Wrenshall had mentioned that he enjoyed travelling to Asia, Mr. Zamfirescu recalled.

A former software developer like Mr. Wrenshall would have had an edge over less cyber-savvy law-enforcement officials in Thailand, said Paul Gillespie, a retired Toronto police child-exploitation detective.

Mr. Wrenshall's arrest stunned the A.U.A. Language Center in Bangkok where he taught for 10 years.

"We never dreamed he would be involved in this kind of thing. He was very meticulous, and so polite, and quiet," said school director Adul Pinsuvana, who remembered Mr. Wrenshall as a soft-spoken instructor who bowed in a respectful manner, similar to the way of Thai people.

Mr. Wrenshell was arrested after Norwegian police discovered computer pictures of a middle-aged man sexually abusing three boys.

The man, an American named Wayne Nelson Corliss, a minor actor often hired as a Santa Claus at children's parties, pleaded guilty this fall to sex charges and identified Mr. Wrenshall to investigators.

Lack of publicity, central record-keeping and international information-sharing is giving repeat offenders opportunities to get into trouble elsewhere, said Rosalind Prober, president of Beyond Borders, a Winnipeg-based group that aims to stop global child prostitution.

"The reason we're out of the loop in Canada is we don't have a national agency that is really overseeing these child sex tourism cases. They are falling through the cracks."

Charges against Mr. Wrenshall include aiding and abetting sex tourism and production of child pornography, for which he could be sentenced to life in prison. He was arrested at London's Heathrow International Airport and faces extradition to the United States.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...217.wthailand17

Thanks to sriracha john for the update.

[sbk]

An undated resume photo of John C. Wrenshall, formerly of Calgary. Wrenshall was charged with running a pedophilia ring in Thailand on Tuesday.

RCMP tip led to Thai sex ring bust

A tip that originated in Canada -- then circled the world, leading to the arrest of four men suspected of sexually exploiting children -- ended up back where it started earlier this week with the arrest of John Wrenshall, a Canadian man accused of running a pedophiliac brothel in Thailand.

Four years ago, an RCMP officer at the National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre in Ottawa found photographs on the Internet of a man sexually abusing young Thai boys.

An international manhunt followed, resulting in a Norwegian man being identified and charged. As the international investigation continued, three more men -- all Americans -- were charged in connection with what investigators by then saw as a sex ring based in Thailand.

One of the three was Wayne Corliss, 59, of New Jersey, who pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to sex tourism and to producing child pornography. In August 2008 forensic investigators pulled from Corliss's computer equipment chat logs and photos exchanged between Wrenshall and Corliss allegedly detailing the sex-for-cash business that Wrenshall is accused of operating out of his Thailand home.

Corliss told investigators he travelled to Thailand every year from 2000 to 2002 to have sex with young boys. He said he would stay at Mr. Wrenshall's home, where boys were made available for a price.

"One thing led to another, to another, and it wasn't until May of this year that we realized we came full circle on the case," RCMP Sgt. Phil Crouch said Wednesday.

Mr. Wrenshall, a 62-year-old former Calgary scout leader who was convicted in 1997 of sexually assaulting a series of choir boys, was arrested earlier this week at London's Heathrow Airport on his way home to Canada. He has been charged with 18 counts related to child pornography and sex tourism.

Accused of being the "lead organizer" of a sex tourism business, it is alleged that Mr. Wrenshall arranged trips by U.S. sex tourists and others to his home in Thailand where they would pay to engage in sex with boys, sometimes for weeks at a time.

Investigators believe that the abuses have been occurring since at least May 2000, and that some of the victims had been living inside Mr. Wrenshall's home near Bangkok for years.

Photographs and video of some of the incidents have been seized by authorities.

Sgt. Crouch said that the RCMP have been working on the case against Wrenshall since May 2008 with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Interpol investigators based in Paris and the Royal Thai Police.

It's been a complex, globe-girdling operation -- and it's not over yet. Sgt. Crouch said the next step for RCMP is to follow up in Canada, to see if any other Canadians are implicated in the alleged Thailand brothel operation.

"The investigation is continuing here in Canada until we're satisfied with whatever information surfaces has been thoroughly investigated," Sgt. Crouch said. "Everything is a possibility. If it ever came to lay a charge [against Mr. Wrenshall] in Canada, I'm certain charges would be laid."

Mr. Wrenshall was arrested on a warrant stemming from an indictment handed down last August by a grand jury in New Jersey.

He faces one count of conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, two counts of aiding and abetting sex tourism, one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography, seven counts of production of child pornography and seven counts of distribution of child pornography.

He is being held at London police station until his next court date on Dec. 23.

It is expected that it will take several months before Mr. Wrenshall is extradited to the United States to face the charges.

If convicted, Mr. Wrenshall faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of sex tourism, a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of producing child pornography, and up to 15 years in prison for distributing child pornography. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 per count.

- Canwest News Service / Published: December 17, 2008

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1087938

thanks to srirachajohn for this update

[sbk]

Canadian Man Accused of Sex Crimes in Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Canadian who allegedly arranged for Americans to sexually abuse "prepubescent" boys in his home for payment, while he taught at a prestigious school in Bangkok, was arrested in London by the U.S. Justice Department working with British police.

John Wrenshall, 62, was arrested on Monday (December 15) at London's Heathrow International Airport for "conspiring to travel...with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with children, aiding and abetting sex tourism, and conspiracy to produce" and distribute child pornography, according to the Department of Justice (D.O.J.).

Mr. Wrenshall, "a Canadian citizen living in Thailand," was arrested "by London's Metropolitan Police Service (MET) with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)" who want to extradite him to America, the D.O.J. said.

"His arrest was a big shock, we never dreamed he would be involved in this kind of thing," said Adul Pinsuvana, Director of the A.U.A. Language School in Bangkok where Mr. Wrenshall taught for nearly 10 years.

"He started teaching here in March 1999," and quit in December after giving his notice, six weeks earlier, that he would be resigning, Mr. Adul said in a telephone interview.

"He was very meticulous, and so polite and quiet. I imagine he is more of an effeminate type. He spoke softly, and would bow a little bit," in a respectful manner similar to Thai people. "He was very classy. He was very articulate."

Mr. Wrenshall was a "permanent staff" teacher of English for Thais and others at the highly respected school. "We have students ranging from age 15 to 60," Mr. Adul said. His arrest was not linked to the school, or any of its students, and A.U.A. was not named in the indictments and court convictions which described his alleged victims as under the age of 12. About 400,000 Thais attended English classes at A.U.A. during the past 28 years, including many who continued studying at universities in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and elsewhere. A.U.A. also teaches Thai language to foreigners, including diplomats, journalists, executives and other professionals. The school's Web site continued on Tuesday (December 16) to list Mr. Wrenshall's "academic office" telephone number and extension.

"He was a very good teacher, and he was given the task of running specific courses, and helping us with the computer programs. He was very experienced with computers," Mr. Adul said. "We had not received any complaints" about him.

The language school discovered Mr. Wrenshall was in trouble a few days before he was arrested in London. "Thailand's Interpol came to our human resources manager, and said they had evidence about one of our teachers and planned to make an arrest, and asked for us to give our cooperation," Mr. Adul said. "I heard about it on December 13. The human resources person told me that Interpol came to talk to her."

"I know all the teachers, but I do not socialize with them outside of the office, except when we have an annual party for the staff," Mr. Adul said, explaining that he knew nothing of Mr. Wrenshall's personal life.

The school did not provide housing for Mr. Wrenshall, who rented a room on Bangkok's northwest outskirts, just across the Chao Phraya River. Mr. Wrenshall's room in Nonthaburi was, on Wednesday (December 17), still decorated with his treasured family photos and books about teaching English. His untouched personal belongings indicate he planned to return to Thailand.

"He never brought other children here," said a Thai woman in the clean, modern, two-story, isolated house where Mr. Wrenshall lived with a Thai family and their children. "He lived here for quite a while, and was OK," she said in an interview without elaborating, while graciously allowing a look inside the home where the accused pedophile had his own bedroom upstairs.

"My room is right across from his, and there was never any problems here with him," said a Thai man who lived in the house which displayed cartoon characters on some of its walls, reflecting a cheerful, fun mood for the Thai infant he held in his arms.

On the front porch, a gray-haired Thai woman quietly rested.

Between the years 2000 and 2002, Mr. Wrenshall allegedly arranged for Americans to sexually abuse Thai boys, for payment, in a home he rented near Bangkok, according to the D.O.J. indictment and three convictions in Alabama and New Jersey courts against three Americans who came to Thailand. During those years, however, Mr. Wrenshall may not have lived in his current residence.

While the occupants were unable to detail how long he lived here, they appeared to have no idea that he was in trouble, and said he recently left to travel abroad and would return soon. Evidence that he planned to come back included mid-20th century, black-and-white photographs of people who may have been his relatives, framed behind glass, including one photo in an antique, worn-leather binding showing a man in an out-of-fashion uniform. Other photos showed Mr. Wrenshall partying with several foreign men, women and children alongside a blazing fireplace and a Christmas tree, in a upmarket home, while they read a book titled "The Night Before Christmas" and opened gift-wrapped presents.

A caption on a photo showing a Christmas holly with candles read: "Christmas on Exmoor, 2006" and included a handwritten note: "John, a Christmas memento with so many thanks for your constant and willing help. X X X X Joan." Exmoor is in coastal southwest England, on the Bristol Channel, and includes cliffs and a national park.

Mr. Wrenshall's framed 1971 University of Calgary Master of Arts degree in sociology, "with a specialisation in complex organization," hung on the wall. Among shelves of books about teaching English, titles also included, "History's Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," and CDs of Mahler, Beethoven and Mozart.

His choice of residence indicated he was trying to live as inexpensively as possible, while teaching at the A.U.A. School, which required a commute of one hour or more each way. To reach the house involved traveling a maze of lanes past fields of rice, lotus blossoms and long-necked white birds, punctuated by an occasional Buddhist temple and utilitarian slabs of light industrial buildings, and residences where few foreigners live.

A Grand Jury indictment from the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, for the case of the "United States of America vs. John Wrenshall," listed several counts. Mr. Wrenshall's "co-conspirator" was Wayne Nelson Corliss, 59, an American apprehended in May 2008 in his Union City, New Jersey apartment. Mr. Corliss pleaded guilty in October to producing child pornography, and traveling abroad for illegal sex, and faces up to 75 years in prison when he is sentenced on February 9, 2009.

The two men were linked to Burgess Lee Burgess, 44, of Mobile, Alabama, and Mitchell Kent Jackson, 31, of Pensacola, Florida. Mr. Burgess and Mr. Jackson pleaded guilty on November 13 in Alabama, after traveling to Thailand between 2000 and 2002, where they paid money to sexually abuse children, guided by Mr. Corliss, a separate D.O.J. statement said.

Mr. Wrenshall received "money for obtaining young boys in Thailand, for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with individuals who traveled from the United States" from 2000 through 2002, the New Jersey indictment said, echoing details of the Alabama case.

Mr. Wrenshall had a house near Bangkok where he, Mr. Corliss, and "others" allegedly sexually assaulted, photographed and videotaped Thai boys being "sexually abused", including a May 2002 videotape showing Mr. Corliss having sex with a Thai boy in Mr. Wrenshall's home. Mr. Wrenshall was "paid" by Mr. Corliss and others "for their sexual contact with the young boys," according to the D.O.J. indictment.

In the Alabama case, "Burgess, Jackson and Corliss" were named abusing and videotaping Thai boys. The D.O.J. indictment describes explicit images "mailed to New Jersey" in 2002, revealing an unidentified "prepubescent minor" and "an adult male".

Mr. Wrenshall allegedly sent, via Internet, "sexually explicit pictures" to Mr. Corliss in December 2002, including one showing a boy who Mr. Corliss "previously sexually abused," the indictment said.

If convicted, Mr. Wrenshall "faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of sex tourism, a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of child pornography production, and up to 15 years in prison for distribution of child pornography. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 per count," the D.O.J. said.

"Burgess and Jackson will be sentenced on April 3, 2009. At sentencing, the men will face a maximum term of 30 years in prison. They also face the possibility of lifetime supervised release, following their prison terms, and a $250,000 fine."

- Scoop Independent News / 2008-12-19

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0812/S00361.htm