Alaska Man Sentenced to 216 Months for Attempting to Sexually Exploit Children in Cambodia

An Anchorage, Alaska, man was sentenced for attempting to sexually exploit children in Cambodia over the course of four years and attempting to arrange a child sex tourism trip for himself and others to Cambodia, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler of the District of Alaska. 

Jason Jayavarman, 45, was sentenced yesterday to serve 216 months in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason of the District of Alaska for his March 2015 conviction of attempted sexual exploitation of children and attempted travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

The evidence presented at trial established that over the course of 12 trips to Cambodia between 2010 and his arrest in 2013, Jayavarman produced multiple videos of himself engaging in sexual acts with an individual who he believed to be a child.  Jayavarman then transported the recordings back to the United States. 

According to trial evidence, Jayavarman also planned a trip for himself and others to Cambodia for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with children as young as 12 years old.  Trial evidence demonstrated that Jayavarman explained to one of the other potential travelers – who was an undercover FBI agent – how to groom a child for sex, avoid law enforcement detection and record high quality “mementos” of the sexual abuse. 

Jayavarman’s child exploitation activities came to light following a concerned citizen’s anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers.

The FBI and the Anchorage Police Department investigated the case.  Trial Attorney Ravi Sinha of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Audrey J. Renschen of the District of Alaska prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.