SwordFish_13
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Source:BBC News
A 87-year-old Californian man has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for attempting to travel to the Philippines to have sex with two little girls.
Wheelchair-bound John Seljan admitted to police he had been visiting young girls in the Philippines for the last 20 years.
The judge said his term in prison was "tantamount to a life sentence".
He is the first person convicted at trial under the Protect Act, aimed at curbing sex tourism.
The former country singer and businessman was caught at Los Angeles international airport in 2003, where agents found child pornography, sex aids, sexually explicit letters to the two girls, aged nine and 12, and 45kg (100lb) of chocolate in his bags.
Some photos portrayed the half-naked elderly man with naked young girls.
Following a non-jury trial in November, he was convicted of "attempting to travel internationally with the intent of engaging in illegal sexual conduct with a minor".
'Life sentence'
The widower and grandfather could have been sentenced to up to 180 years for this and five more counts, but US federal Judge Alicemarie Stotler opted for the minimum sentence (15 to 20 years).
"When you're 87-years-old, it is tantamount to a life sentence," she told the court in Santa Ana.
The man claimed he did not know his actions were against the law, and that several parents in the Philippines had allowed him to carry out sexual activities with their children.
The investigation started when a letter sent by Seljan to the Philippines by courier was randomly opened for an inspection in August 2003.
An agent noticed it was intended for a child despite its sexual nature and reported the case to his superiors.
After the verdict, Assistant US Attorney Richard Lee said it reflected "the seriousness of how Congress views the problem and what they're trying t do about it".
The 2003 Protect Act was introduced to criminalise "conduct by Americans who travel abroad to molest children in foreign countries," he added.
Seljan had already been convicted of first degree sexual assault on an 11-year-old in Wisconsin in 1977.
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