Gaybutton Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 In a thread below I wrote that I thought Christopher Paul Neil would never have shown up in the Sunee Plaza area, but it turns out I was dead wrong. Maybe he didn't know at the time that he was being hunted, but my guess is that he probably did. I wish he never came to Pattaya and to the Sunee Plaza area. It has a negative enough reputation already. His presence won't exactly help. The PATTAYA CITY NEWS article has photos, including CCTV photos of him entering a Soi VC hotel. I don't recognize the hotel from the photos. If any of you do, I hope nobody will post the name of the hotel. At the time, they certainly had no way of knowing who he was, so I don't see any reason to malign the hotel. The article and photos can be found at: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_19_10_50.htm The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: _____ Exclusive – Canadian Pedophile Began his Thailand Trip Here in Pattaya. As reported in the National and International Press, the Canadian National wanted on charges of pedophilia has now been caught. Mr. Christopher Paul Neil aged 32 was arrested in Nakorn Rachasima Province in the North-East of Thailand, some 200 kms from Bangkok. Interpol, who has been tracking the man from South Korea, where he worked as an English Teacher, informed the Thai Police that he had come to Thailand on 11th October. We can exclusively reveal that his first stop on his trip to Thailand was here in Pattaya. We obtained CCTV pictures from a Hotel in Soi VC in South Pattaya which clearly show Mr. Neil checking in on 11th October with a Thai Friend who is believed to have previously organized liaisons with underage boys and girls, during his first trip to Thailand in 2002. He checked out of the hotel on 13th October as planned and then made his way to the North-East which is where he was eventually caught on Friday. __________ The PATTAYA DAILY NEWS also has a story: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000004055 Quote
Gaybutton Posted October 20, 2007 Author Posted October 20, 2007 More details about Neil's arrest and activities are now being published. Perhaps, if nothing else, it will drive home the point I and so many others have been making for years: Don't engage in sexual activities in Thailand unless it is with someone at least 18 years old. If there is a silver lining on the cloud, maybe it will be in that other pedophiles will think twice before coming to Thailand. The following two stories appear in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Bingo! We've got him! (bangkokpost.com, dpa) The Canadian target of a vigorous international manhunt as "a serious threat to society," sat calmly in dark sunglasses when he was taken to a press conference police arrested him Friday. He was detained earlier on Friday in Nakhon Ratchasima after police received a tip-off, authorities said. "Bingo! We've got him," said Pol Maj Gen Wimol Powintara to The Associated Press news agency. Thailand's deputy national police chief told more than 100 reporters that Christopher Paul Neil, 32, appeared to be "a serious threat to society" who is suspected of having abused scores, possibly hundreds, of boys - some younger than 10 - and girls. General Wongkot Maneerin said that it was likely that Neil, a wandering English teacher, would be tried in Thailand for abusing boys during his time as an English teacher in Bangkok in 2003. These crimes carry a penalty of 20 years in jail in Thailand. German police investigators triggered an international furore when they managed to "uncoil" his digitally altered internet photographs that showed him abusing many young boys in Cambodia and Vietnam. Neil had hidden his face by lifting his T-shirt after being escorted into Bangkok police headquarters past a scrum of reporters, many from overseas. Later as he was presented to the press he appeared calm, with no expression. General Wongkot himself questioned the suspect - a sign of the international interest in a case that galvanised police in a dozen countries. "His behaviour was not normal. His sexual behaviour seems to have been extraordinary," the deputy police chief said. "We are lucky that we have stopped him now. We have many of his victims coming forward to give evidence against him," he added. The Thai police issued an arrest warrant Thursday after a Thai boy came forward to accuse the Canadian of paying for oral sex. Neil was finally arrested Friday morning in Nakorn Ratchasima (widely known as Korat), northeast of Bangkok, after fleeing South Korea a week earlier, following the release of his picture by Interpol with a "red alert," its highest search signal. Police said he was tracked down after a tip-off. Canada also has laws allowing it to punish paedophiles for their activities in third countries. Former colleagues have regaled reporters with evidence of an "unassuming character" who was a "diligent teacher." But writings attributed to him on the Facebook social-networking website and elsewhere show evidence of an arrogant character who offered advice about cleaning a computer of "dangerous" photographs and how to avoid character checks when applying for teaching jobs. Neil fled Korea after wiping hundreds of postings he had made on an English teachers' discussion group and shaving his hair off. At least two young Thais said Neil abused them and paid them money after luring them to an apartment he used to rent in Bangkok several years ago, according to the Thai police. The German police started investigating his activities when they discovered three years ago that his swirl-disguised picture was common to scores of Internet images of his paedophile activities in Asia. His family in Canada had urged him to give himself up. _____ and this: _____ How to Catch a Paedophile Suspect Most-wanted Canadian Christopher Neil is behind bars after police traced a phone call, and questioned his transvestite friend. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. But the story behind the apprehension of Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Neil is almost as strange as the pictures and the actions he's alleged to have taken to get into this trouble in the first place. It involved a race to get to his hideout - and the assistance of a transvestite friend. Thai police laid out the bare bones of his capture, which has attracted worldwide attention. It began when they decided to keep tabs on the people who knew Neil during his previous trips to the country. On Thursday night, that strategy paid off. Police were able to trace a call from a 25-year-old Thai transvestite, accused of arranging some of Neil's alleged sexual liaisons with young boys. When they confronted the katoey, he admitted he knew where Neil was, and led them to a rented home in Nakhon Ratchasima province, where the Canadian was hiding out. Five officers walked up to the residence and knocked. Neil opened the door and was immediately asked for proof of his identity. Neil acknowledged his name but refused to talk about anything else, demanding to see a lawyer. The 130-long kilometre trip back to Bangkok, where he appeared in court Friday morning, may have seemed a long one for the suspect. But it's nothing compared to the journey that lies ahead. That will likely include a trial in the country and another in Canada, where he may be extradited to face justice back home. (Agencies) __________ The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Suspect Arrested in Korat Canadian Tracked Down by Police Through His Thai Partner's Mobile Phone Records Published on October 20, 2007 Just 12 hours after obtaining an arrest warrant, police yesterday arrested much-wanted Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Paul Neil at a house in Nakhon Ratchasima province. Neil did not resist arrest. Asked by arresting officers about his identity, he simply said "Yes". Police said later Neil had not given any other information apart from saying "I knew this day would come" and "I need a lawyer", before being driven to Bangkok and shown to the media at the Royal Thai Police compound in the afternoon. Officers said they were looking for two other Thai men whose pictures were found on Neil's computer. They suspect the pair may have been molested by the suspect when they were underage boys. Neil, 32, has been charged with child molestation, restraint of a person's freedom, and depriving a child of parental care. Deputy police chief General Wongkot Maneerin alleged that Neil had orgies with up to seven boys at a time on many occasions and sometimes had sex with girls. The nationalities of the boys included Vietnamese, Laotian, Burmese, Cambodian and Thai. Wongkot called on other victims to come forward. He said police would get Neil to undergo a blood test for Aids, although that would depend on his cooperation. He said the 18-year-old Thai man who came forward to the police as the first local sex victim of Neil, was actually only 14. Neil was accused of first violating the boy on October 14, 2003, at his apartment in Bangkok's Din Daeng area when the boy was nine years old. Neil is now in custody at the Children, Juveniles and Women Division, without a lawyer representing him as of yet. The initial authority to detain him lasts 48 hours and he is expected to be taken to the Criminal Court - possibly today - for consideration about further detention. Pol Lt-Colonel Phatthana Nutchanart, of the Tourist Police, revealed that officers had tracked Neil initially from "street information" gained in the Pattaya area in Chon Buri, where they learnt that Neil had dated a transvestite called "Oam" for two years before he last departed Thailand for South Korea. After learning the transvestite's home province was Chaiyaphum, a police team went there but found no trace of them. Police later obtained Oam's mobile phone number and call records and found he had called a relative in Nakhon Ratchasima - where Neil and Oam were found yesterday. The world-wide search for Neil began just 10 days ago with a ground-breaking appeal from Interpol for public help to track down a man seen in 200 photos posted on the Internet. The photos appeared to show him abusing a dozen young boys. The man's face had been digitally swirled, but German computer experts reconstructed the images, which Interpol then posted on its website along with its call for assistance. The operation was code-named "Vico" because the images were believed to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2002 or 2003. More than 300 people replied to Interpol's call, with five people on three continents offering critical information, the agency said in a statement on its website. "The fact that we went to the public was the breakthrough," Interpol detective Mick Moran told AFP. "We are absolutely delighted this guy has been arrested." Neil was found in a one-storey rented house in Nakhon Ratchasima, around 300 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, where he was with the Thai transvestite, police said. There were conflicting reports about Oam's age, that he was 25 or 20. Police gave no details about Neil's relationship with his companion. General Wongkot said Neil could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted over accusations he abused a nine-year-old boy in Bangkok four years ago. If any other countries want to prosecute him, he could be extradited after serving any prison time received in Thailand, if found guilty here, Wongkut said. Neil had been teaching English at a school in Seoul, where South Korean police are also investigating his activities. He flew to Bangkok on October 11, when security cameras documented his arrival at the airport. Neil has visited Thailand six times since 2000. In 2003 he tried and failed to get a job teaching at an international school in Bangkok, according to Thai officials. Interpol says Neil is from suburban Vancouver, where Canadian media reported that his mother and a sibling still live. Neil once studied at a seminary, hoping to become a priest, but was eventually shunned by his teachers, who felt he lacked the moral backbone for the task, according to reports. An official at the Bangkok school where Neil tried to get a teaching job described him as an introvert, who was not hired because he had difficulty cooperating with school officials and other teachers. The school said no complaints were filed regarding any abusive behaviour. The Nation, AFP Quote
Guest pete1969 Posted October 20, 2007 Posted October 20, 2007 Below is what was printed on the CNN website. It really gives Pattaya a black eye: "Earlier in the week, there had been searches across the country, with Thai police scouring bars and hostels Neil is known to have visited in the past. In the seedy Thai coastal resort town of Pattaya, police questioned owners of bars where underage boys, they said, could be procured for sex. At least one bar owner told them he recognized Neil's face. He had been a regular, the owner said, according to police. Thailand seems to attract Western pedophiles in droves. At a police station in Pattaya, CNN was shown a file of 50 suspected foreign sex offenders believed to be in the Pattaya area. The officer in charge of the district said Neil was their highest priority because of the international attention surrounding him. But he wasn't really a big fish, this officer said. He said there are many other foreign pedophiles in Pattaya who do much worse." Pete Quote
Gaybutton Posted October 20, 2007 Author Posted October 20, 2007 police questioned owners of bars where underage boys, they said, could be procured for sex. That's the part that bothers me. We certainly hear plenty about gay pedophile arrests. Why do we hardly ever hear about anything more than a slap on the wrist for the bars owners that provide under-age boys in the first place? I don't understand that part. People consistently post about how Pattaya, especially Sunee Plaza, is a "haven" for pedophiles. My version of logic tells me that if the powers-that-be would also crack down on the venues that provide under-age boys for the pedophiles, then that would be the end of a significant part of the pedophile problem. The police are holding bars responsible for the behavior of boys using drugs, even during non-working hours. They have been closing bars at which boys on drugs are found. I still don't understand how the bars can be expected to be responsible for what employees are doing during non-working hours, but if the police can hold the bars responsible for that, then why can't they hold the bars responsible for something they can control, the age of their employees? It's one more item on my "I don't get it" list. Quote
Guest pete1969 Posted October 22, 2007 Posted October 22, 2007 GB, I think the very simple explanation for both the drugs and the underage boys is tea money. It was reported on some forum that the bars who did not pay the extra fines for having staff with drugs in their system got shut down. The ones that paid the fine got to stay open. The bars that were raided probably did not get sufficient notice as to the raid because they were not paying enough tea money in the first place, or else the police don't normally fine the bars for staff on drugs, so the owners did not worry about it. Surprise. Bars with obvious underage staff pay a great deal of tea money to stay open. From gossip among the bar workers, I understand that all bars in Sunee Plaza pay more tea money than do bars in Boystown due to Sunee's reputation. True or not, I don't know, but it makes sense. The Thai authorities and the vast majority of the Thai people in general don't give a fig about pedophiles except in using them to make money or to present a public face to the world at large that Thailand is doing something about its image as a pedo haven. I have never seen a report of any Thai pedophiles being arrested or paraded in front of the cameras, nor do I see any outrage among Thais that most pedophila in LOS is practised by Thais against other Thais. In regards to the bars and what the police enforce, it all has to do with money or with building face with the International community, and money will always, always trump any face-building, as there will always be a sucker without much money to waste the face-building arrests on. Pete Quote
Gaybutton Posted October 29, 2007 Author Posted October 29, 2007 A Long Way from the Seminary http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/National/home Quote
