American man given life sentence for sexually abusing Vietnamese boys

Christopher Edwin Day, 52, obtained the sentence on Might 16 from a court docket in Florida for 2 counts of “journey with intent to interact in illicit sexual conduct” and two counts of “tried coercion and enticement of a minor into unlawful sexual exercise,” the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi introduced Tuesday.

The case started in the summertime of 2016 when an area nongovernmental group in Hanoi reported the potential molestation of a minor boy to Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) in Vietnam.

Based on that report, Day had traveled continuously between Florida and Vietnam over the course of a few years to satisfy and sexually abuse underage boys whom he had befriended and groomed on-line. He sought to purchase his victims’ silence with cash and items.

Christopher Edwin Day when underneath arrest for sexually abusing youngsters in Vietnam, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Tampa Metropolis’s police

HSI Vietnam had labored with Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Safety and the U.S. State Division’s Regional Safety Workplace in Hanoi to determine and interview greater than 10 of Day’s victims and their mother and father. In the course of the investigation, Day had returned to Florida, and HSI Vietnam requested help from the HSI workplace in Florida’s Tampa Metropolis, which subsequently investigated, interviewed, and arrested Day for little one intercourse tourism in August 2019.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Division of Justice’s Little one Exploitation and Obscenity Part and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Tampa, with Day ultimately pleading responsible to the above expenses in February 2020.

Throughout sentencing, one sufferer shared the affect of Day’s abuse, stating he dropped out of college, suffered from insomnia, and had problem socializing and sustaining employment.