American Hilltribe Foundation Director Charged With Sexual Abuse Of Young Girls

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Robert Moss (seated right) and Chailong Siriwong are questioned at the headquarters of Police Bureau Region 5’s Juvenile and Women’s Protection Division.

Chiang Mai Mail

Two men charged with sexual abuse of young girls in their care

Two men, one American and one Thai, were recently arrested and charged with sexual abuse against a number of young hill tribe girls between the ages of 13 and 15.

It seems that the two men’s abuse of the young girls in their charge may have been continuing unreported for a number of years.

The men were questioned and charged at Police Bureau Region 5’s Juvenile and Women’s Protection Division; a search of the foundation’s premises resulted in the seizure of CDs and DVDs which will be used as evidence.

Robert Moss, 55, the proprietor of Hor Fuang Fah, a foundation which supplied accommodation and access to education for hill tribe girls, with premises in Muang and Mae Taeng districts, together with his employee Chailong Siriwong, 49, are, at present, denying the charges.

During questioning, Chailong insisted that he had not sexually abused the girls, and that he had loved them as would a father. He refused to comment about Moss’s involvement, stating that it was “none of his business.”

Prior to the two men’s arrest, Somboon Jai-ngarm, the principal of Mae Tang’s Sop Perng Wittaya School, had become concerned about the behaviour of a number of young girls from the foundation’s Mae Taeng premises who were being educated at the school.

The students seemed ill, nervous and depressed, and were often found crying. Suspecting child sexual abuse, Somboon contacted local police, and was finally able to persuade 7 of the girls to talk with police.

After the subsequent arrest of their alleged abusers, the victims felt able to tell their full stories.

The Hor Fuang Fah foundation was supposedly acting to sponsor selected students from impoverished hill tribe families living in Chiang Rai’s Mae Suay district, providing them with education and a place to stay in Chiang Mai.

The accused Thai, Chailong, originally from Mae Suay, was employed by Moss to drive the girls to and from school and to perform housekeeping duties. At least 100 young girls were resident at the facility.

However, during questioning by police, the possibility that the foundation was being run for the financial benefit of its proprietor was revealed.

Each student’s family was charged 3,000 baht annually for accommodation, food and transportation to school, and another 10,000 baht for education services.

It is being suggested that the bulk of the charges, plus national and international donations received by the foundation, were retained by Moss.

One of the abuse victims told the school’s principal that girls staying at the dormitories often went hungry, as food was in short supply. Another said that she was afraid she would have to die before she could get away from Moss and Chailong, and that if she could escape, she would never go back. Others said that on many occasions, Moss and Chailong would force girls to go with them to their private quarters in order to ‘give a massage’.

Outsiders were not permitted to enter the foundation’s premises, even when girls were sick and needed medical attention, or when the school’s principal needed to check on their health. The children were also forced to work in Moss’s orchard.

Since the arrests, almost half the girls have left the foundation’s premises; a number have been sent to other children’s homes in Chiang Mai, others have been taken back to their villages by their parents. Some, who have been terrified by the constant threat of abuse, have refused to return to the facility.

Pol Lt Col Thawatchai Yoomark, deputy superintendent of the Juvenile and Women’s Protection Division, said that police suspect that a further number of organisations may be acting in this manner, and that their founders’ and executives’ history and profiles were being investigated by the authorities.

- Chiang Mai Mail / 2009-03-24