An American man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to traveling to the Dominican Republic to prey on underage girls. At the time, one girl was 13 and the other was The case highlighted the little-reported subjects of underage sex trafficking and sex tourism in the Dominican Republic, which prosecutes few such cases. There are 25, to 35, prostitutes in the country, an estimated 60 percent of whom entered the sex industry as minors, according to a study conducted by the International Labour Organization , a United Nations agency.
Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, but the country prohibits brothels and soliciting for sex. The age of consent is According to court records, Mr. Symonds messaged the girls on Facebook, asking them repeatedly if they belonged to him and requesting that they send him nude photos of themselves. Symonds also sent the girls seminude photos of themselves from past visits, including one showing him and one of the girls lying down together, both partly clothed, according to the court documents.
Some of the most revealing messages were not sent to the girls but instead to a person who appeared to be a worried male friend of his in the Dominican Republic, whose initials are A. Facebook messages between the men were confiscated by the authorities. Following is a partial text of them, translated from Spanish:.
Symonds: a lot of minors, my god. Symonds: I thought she was Symonds went on to tell A. His friend informed him that everyone was saying Mr. Symonds responded that her mother knew about their relationship and that everything was O. His friend continued to warn him to be careful. At one point, the year-old girl asked Mr. Symonds if they could use protection when they met up and Mr. Symonds questioned her, telling her he did not want any problems with his penis.
Symonds later acknowledged to the authorities that he had a relationship with the girls, saying that he knew they were underage but that he never had sexual contact with them. Anthony Natale, a lawyer for Mr. Symonds, did not respond to an email message or return a phone call seeking comment.
