SGV Man Admits To Traveling For Sex With Underage Boys

MONTROSE, CA – A 71-year-old Montrose man will be sentenced Wednesday for admitting to traveling to Thailand to have sex with underage boys. Paul Alan Shapiro pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court last year to two counts of traveling to Thailand for the purpose of illicit sexual conduct with minors.

Shapiro admitted in a plea agreement that he repeatedly flew from Los Angeles to Thailand from February 2010 to September 2012, where he paid underage boys as young as 14 years old small amounts of local currency in order to engage in various sex acts with them. Shapiro also took photographs of himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the boys, according to a 10-count updated indictment filed in 2016.

According to the Pattaya Mail, a Thai newspaper, Shapiro was arrested in Thailand in 2012 after being caught in the midst of a lewd act with a 13- year-old boy in a mall restroom. He told investigators he'd purchased the services of the boy for 300 baht – about $8.50, the newspaper reported.

Shapiro received a royal pardon in Thailand in 2015 so that he could be deported back to the United States to face charges, according to the paper.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock