Erik Leonardus Peeters, 48, of Norwalk. (Courtesy)

Norwalk man sentenced to 22 years for sexually abusing boys in Cambodia

| 8 Dec. 2016

A Norwalk man convicted of traveling to Cambodia for sexual acts with young boys was sentenced this week to 22 years in federal prison, according to authorities.

Erik Leonardus Peeters, 48, pleaded guilty in 2012 to two counts of engaging in illicit sexual contact with a minor in a foreign place, authorities said in a news release Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder on Wednesday handed down his punishment in a federal courtroom. She also ordered Peeters to pay $15,000 in restitution to his victims and ordered him to submit to supervision by authorities for the rest of his life once his prison term ends.

According to authorities, Peeters went to Cambodia in April 2008 and within two months started looking for boys to use for sex.

Prosecutors said he in particular picked out children who were destitute or disabled.

“This defendant is a sexual predator who repeatedly victimized young boys, several of whom have physical disabilities, and all of whom come from deeply impoverished communities in the developing world,” U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a prepared statement. “This lengthy sentence sends a message to all pedophiles in the United States that they cannot escape prosecution by traveling to other countries to engage in illegal and horrific sexual acts against children.” 

Prosecutors said several of Peeters’ victims, who are now adults, spoke at his sentencing hearing about the lasting shame and fear his crimes left them to deal with.

The Cambodian National Police arrested Peeters in February 2009 on suspicion of sexual contact with children, according to authorities.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles then charged him, and he was returned to the U.S. in August that year, according to the news release.

Peeters was a sex offender before traveling to Cambodia, according to authorities. Prosecutors said he was convicted in Los Angeles County years earlier of lewd and lascivious conduct with boys under the age of 14.

Prosecutors said Peeters is the third and final defendant to be sentenced after being arrested as part of a Homeland Security Investigations and Justice Department operation targeting American men who traveled to Cambodia for sex with children.