A former U.S. Army Marine captain has been found guilty of raping underage girls in Cambodia and sentenced to 210 years in federal prison after a second trial on new charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Micheal Joseph Pepe, 68, has been jailed for his crimes since 2007 but was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting and drugging victims, some of whom were 9-12 years old at the time of the abuse.<\/p>\n
U.S. Judge Dale S. Fisher yesterday called Pepe’s actions “monstrous” and “terrible.”<\/p>\n
Pepe was first arrested in Cambodia in 2006 and sentenced two years later under federal law punishing U.S. citizens traveling abroad for engaging in sex with minors.<\/p>\n
Some of the victims had been brought to the US to testify and gave their version through an interpreter.<\/p>\n
Pepe, who lives in California, worked part-time as a lecturer at a university in Cambodia but was arrested on charges in 2006.<\/p>\n
He has been convicted since 2008, but due to a technical legal ambiguity received the sentence only in 2014.<\/p>\n
After Pepe’s sentence it was revealed that translator Ann Luong Spiratos and special immigration agent Gary J. Phillips, were in a relationship with each other, writes Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n But after the suspension, the judge ruled that the relationship between the two officials had not influenced the fairness of the case.<\/p>\n During the second seven-day trial, eight victims testified again, revealing how Pepe had drugged and raped them in his Phnom Penh apartment when they were minors.<\/p>\n Prosecutor Fisher said “there is no justification for Pepe ever being released from prison.”<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/top-channel.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/ak-1.png\")