Menlo Park man accused of having sex with child

paloaltoonline A Menlo Park man and two other American men accused of traveling to Cambodia to have sex with children will face federal charges in the United States, officials said Monday (Aug. 31). Ronald Boyajian, 49, of Menlo Park, has been accused of having sex with a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security. He had previously been convicted of sex offenses in the United States, officials said. An Almanac search of both the national and state sex offender registry did not turn up his name. Child sex tourism is an ongoing issue in Cambodia, a poor nation where some families sell their children as sexual objects to pay for food or health care, according to the Washington Post. U.S. officials said the arrests demonstrate America's commitment to protect children from sexual exploitation abroad. The men will be the first to be prosecuted under an operation called "Twisted Traveler," targeting American "sex tourists" in Cambodia. They were expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles Tuesday, Sept. 1, after being arrested by Cambodian police. The men -- all current or former California residents -- are charged under an act that went into effect in 2003, strengthening laws related to predatory crimes committed abroad by Americans. If convicted, Boyajian and the two other men would face sentences of up to 30 years in federal prison.