‘predator’ | 

Irish magician who travelled to Cambodia to sexually exploit child jailed for six years

‘We will not cease in our efforts to bring individuals who harm children to justice’

Alan Sherry

Today at 18:13

AN IRISH magician who travelled from the US to Cambodia to sexually exploit a child has been jailed for six years.

Scott Jameson (47), who is a dual Irish and American citizen based in Massachusetts, was arrested by FBI agents in 2022 after he arrived in Boston’s Logan Airport on a flight from Asia and was found with a video he recorded of the sexual exploitation.

Sick Jameson, who performed as a magician at events for young children for two decades, was jailed for six years at federal court in Boston this week to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and transportation of child pornography.

US District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns also ordered that he be subjected to five years of supervise release after the sentence is up and he pay $20,0000 in special assessments.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said James thought that by travelling overseas to Cambodia in order to sexually exploit children, he could get away with it.

“He was wrong, Sexual exploitation of children is unconscionable, regardless of where the victims live. Our office works with international authorities regularly to make sure that individuals like Mr. Jameson are held accountable for their criminal conduct. We will not cease in our efforts to bring individuals who harm children to justice.”

Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said the bureau was determined to bring people like Jameson to justice.

“This predator with a passport travelled halfway around the world and engaged in illicit sexual conduct with a child and then brought back home evidence of that sexual abuse so he could relive it for his own sick gratification,” she said.

Jameson was put on the radar of the FBI in early 2022 when Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), a Cambodian NGO founded to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation, contacted federal authorities in the United States to report that Jameson engaged in inappropriate behaviour with minors in Cambodia.

A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s office said: “An investigation revealed that, while in Cambodia, Jameson would provide gifts and money to children and their families. Children reported that he would visit the pagoda where they lived and sleep in a room with the children.”

In September 2022, authorities in the United States were notified that Jameson had again travelled from Boston to Cambodia in August 2022.

“Upon his return to the United States on Oct. 19, 2022, Jameson was stopped at Logan Airport. During a search of his belongings, a video was discovered which he produced during his most recent trip to Cambodia, depicting the genitals of a young boy who was approximately seven years old.”

Jameson admitted that he filmed the video and transferred it from his camera to a hard drive which he had on him when he was stopped at Logan Airport A search of his laptop also revealed it had been used to view child exploitation images.

“During a subsequent interview with law enforcement, Jameson stated that he worked as a magician for over 20 years, regularly performing at libraries and private and family events across New England, usually for children as young as kindergarten age and up to the eighth grade.”

During the performances he would regularly call children from the audience to be his assistants.