A 59-year-old Kent man remains in custody at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac as he awaits formal charges in U.S. District Court in Seattle that he reportedly engaged in illicit sexual conduct with underage girls in Cambodia.
Craig Thomas Carr waived his preliminary hearing last month and agreed to extend the time for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to file formal charges until July 9, according to a June 1 e-mail from Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. Carr will enter a plea once formal charges are filed.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which filed the initial complaint charges against Carr May 10 in U.S. District Court.
Carr was accompanied by ICE agents on May 7 as he boarded a plane in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the return flight to the United States, according to an ICE media release. The charges against Carr are detailed in a five-count criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
According to affidavit in the case, Carr set up through an advertisement on the Internet to pay for sex with girls around 12 years of age.
The Cambodian National Police arrested Carr on Jan. 22. He remained in the custody of Cambodian authorities until he was removed from that country and escorted back to the U.S. by ICE.
Carr is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Protect Act. The Protect Act, which went into effect seven years ago, substantially strengthened federal laws against predatory crimes involving children outside the U.S. by adding new crimes and increasing the penalties for these charges.
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