The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Timothy Ronald Obert, age 36, was indicted yesterday for engaging in sexual relations with a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Mr. Obert, who now resides in Santa Cruz, California, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with another person, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2423(c), a statute that was newly enacted on April 30, 2003, under the PROTECT Act. 

On June 23, 2004, Mr. Obert was arrested in Santa Cruz.  In connection with a detention hearing, government attorneys represented the following facts to the Court as a matter of the public record:  The evidence showed that, while working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, Mr. Obert had performed oral sex on a minor Costa Rican national on July 5, 2003, and other occasions, and that he had provided that minor with money, drugs and alcohol in conjunction with the sex acts.   The minor's birth certificate showed that he was 14 years old at the time of charged offense.  Mr. Obert's birth certificate showed that he was a natural born United States citizen who was 35 years old at the time of the charged offense.

It was also asserted as part of the public record that Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children.  Mr. Obert stated in his resume that from January - August 2000, he worked in Nicaragua and was responsible for outreach to children in need of food and medical attention;  that from October - December of 1998, he worked as a Refugee Camp Volunteer in Nicaragua, post-Hurricane Mitch, where he worked directly with child victims and orphans; and that from June - August of 1998, he  worked at an orphanage in Honduras.

The maximum statutory penalty for this count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(c) is 30 years of imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  However, any sentence following conviction would be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion of the Court.  An indictment simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Obert must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

Mr. Obert made his initial appearance in federal court in San Jose on June 23, 2004.  He was detained without bail pending a detention hearing on June 28, 2004, at 12:00 p.m. before Judge Trumbull.  The defendant's next scheduled appearance is at 2:00 p.m. on June 24, 2004, for an Identification of Counsel Hearing before Judge Trumbull.

The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by Immigration & Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), with assistance from the ICE Panama Attache Office, the Department of State, the Peace Corps Office of Inspector General, and the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial of Costa Rica.   Shawna Yen is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal technician Tracey Andersen. 

U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan said, "This is one of the first PROTECT Act prosecutions and also one of the few prosecutions of a Peace Corps volunteer for crimes allegedly committed during service in a foreign country.  I would like to thank ICE, the Peace Corps Inspector General, and the authorities in Costa Rica for their invaluable assistance in this prosecution.

"We will work around the clock to identify and hold accountable alleged pedophiles who think they are free to commit child sex crimes in other countries," said Charles Simonsen, San Francisco ICE Acting Special Agent-in-Charge.  "ICE has made this type of investigation a priority within our agency under a program called Operation Predator, and has extended significant resources toward thwarting this serious criminal offense."