Fake doctor imprisoned for sexual exploitation of minors

HOUSTON – A 39-year-old Houston man has been sentenced for producing child pornography of several minor female victims, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Nam Vu Bui pleaded guilty Aug. 21.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal has now sentenced Bui to 330 months in prison. At the hearing, the court heard from two of the victims, after which they were recognized for their bravery in recounting the events and the trauma it caused and continues to cause them. Bui was further ordered to pay $19,680 in restitution to the victims and will serve 10 years on supervised release following completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Bui will also be required to register as a sex offender. In handing down the prison terms, Judge Rosenthal stated that what he did was evil, further noting that child sexual assaults, like those he committed, should be called what they are, rape. 

“The bravery shown by the victims in this case is to be commended,” said Hamdani. “They spoke up against evil, rose above the years of abuse perpetrated on them and have given true meaning to the word survivor. It is my hope that more victims, hearing about these brave young women, will speak out against their abusers. It is the first step in bringing these child sexual predators to justice.”

Bui first came to the attention of law enforcement in Vermont for pretending to be a medical student conducting cancer research. As part of that “research,” he convinced his girlfriend’s friends to allow him to perform gynecological exams on them in their dorm rooms. One of the victims got suspicious when he asked her to wear a blindfold. She peeked under it and realized he was trying to record what he was doing without her consent.

The ensuing investigation revealed Bui was from Houston and had infiltrated his girlfriend’s family and other Vietnamese immigrants as a tutor for their female minor children. During the tutoring sessions, he sexually molested the minor victims and recorded them doing acts such as performing oral sex on him. Bui also deceived the victims and caused them to create child pornography of themselves for him. He created email accounts pretending to be attorneys at fictitious law firms, friends of the victims and working as a vigilante combatting a child pornography ring supposedly made up of law enforcement officers.

Authorities later conducted a search at the residence he shared with his mother in Houston. Forensic analysis of the seized items in the home revealed Bui produced images of three minor victims and others.

He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Houston Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Middlebury College Department of Public Safety and Vermont FBI.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Zack is prosecuting the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources link on that page.