A former Florida attorney, Rugh James Cline, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for paying a child in Cambodia to engage in a commercial sex act. Court documents revealed that Cline, 44, traveled to Cambodia where he paid four children to engage in sex acts with him on several occasions. At the time of his arrest in Cambodia, authorities found a laptop in his possession containing hundreds of images of child sexual abuse material.
The announcement was made by Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Sara C. Sweeney for the Middle District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor of the FBI Tampa Field Office.
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Department of State, Cambodian National Police, and Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills from the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ilyssa Spergel and Courtney Derry for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project coordinates resources from federal, state, and local levels to locate and prosecute individuals who exploit children online while also working to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.