A Florida man, Rugh James Cline, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for engaging in illegal activities involving children in Cambodia. The 44-year-old former attorney from Tampa was found guilty of paying four Cambodian children to engage in sex acts with him on multiple occasions.
The case was investigated by the FBI, with support from the U.S. Department of State, Cambodian National Police, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. Upon his arrest in Cambodia, authorities discovered that Cline possessed a laptop containing hundreds of images depicting 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.
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, led the prosecution.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. The project aims to utilize federal, state, and local resources to locate and prosecute offenders while rescuing victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.