The Brazilian Public Ministry filed notice yesterday that federal attorneys are prosecuting the indictment against former fishing tour operator Richard W. Schair of Gainesville Georgia for allegedly operating a house of prostitution. Schair is the only North American among a group of Brazilians charged in this criminal action including Jose Lauro Rock Da Silva, Juscelino Of Souza Motta, Daniel Geraldo Lopes, Admilson Garci’a Da Silva, Adilson Garci’a Da Silva, Silvo Pettengill Neto.

Five Indian girls went to the Brazilian Federal Police in July, 2007, alleging that "Richard" illegally lured them off their reservation to work as underage prostitutes for his North American fishing clients. One girl testified that she was left pregnant at age 13 after one such fishing trip, then, with her baby, was ostracized from her village.

The Federal Police then gathered enough evidence to file public notice of their investigation on August 8, 2007 “that minor Indian and other girls living near the rivers in the regions of Autazes became victims of sexual exploitation by North-American foreign tourists.”

Schair was originally indicted for rape, corruption of minors and operating a prostitution network. His clients included nineteen members of the Shriners’ secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters, currently under investigation for sex trafficking, prostitution and child sex tourism. These Jesters were expected to testify in a related case about their first hand knowledge of sex with minor prostitutes while on one of Schair’s fishing trips, including Samuel “Scutter” Newton, a national Jester director.

This Rede Record newscast was posted to YouTube by ECPAT-USA last October and shows reporter Luiz Carlos Azen questioning the girls.

“How many men did you make sex with on this ship, the Amazon Santana?” Azen asks.

“With two,” one girl answers.

“Would you recognize them?” he asks.

“With certainty,” she answers.

“That nationality was?” he asks.

“Not from here, Brazilians were not.”

“They spoke what language?” he asks.

“They said everything in English,” she answered.

The producer then showed the girls some pictures of the accused, recognizing those who had been aboard the Amazon Santana. One girl said that one of them took her by force to one of the cabins.

“They just forced, understand?” she said. “But I did not do, no because I cried, I squirmed, yelled and he went and opened the door. And later because he was not able, he accused me of stealing from him.’”

The second girl stated “It was for me to use a drug that they were using called marijuana. It compelled me to make sex in a private room in the same motor boat, in a berth.”

“The name of the boat,” Azen asks.

“Amazon Santana,” she replies.

Azen then asks one of the girls “What is the name of your enticer/inveigher/seducer?”

“Richard” she answered.

“That nationality he was?” he asks.

“Wasn’t Brazilian, not. Was of the United States.”

Azen reports that the next girl was interviewed by the FBI.

“Do you know the father of your son?” he asks.

“No,” she answers.

“Then there is a possibility that one of the two Americans is the father?” he asks.

“That possibility exists,” she answers.

“What would you like?” Azen concludes.

“So that they pay,” she answers.

Azen's report that the FBI had been in Brazil interviewing the girls implies close cooperation between both countries.

Will U.S. investigators use evidence gathered on their trip to Brazil to charge Schair or his Jester clients with violating the Protect Act of 2003? Will they be charged with engaging in illicit sexual conduct of any commercial sex act in a foreign country with anything of value given to or received by a person under the age of 18?

According to the U.S. Department of State:

“It is a crime for a United States citizen or permanent resident to travel abroad for the purpose of having sex with a minor and it is a crime for a United States citizen or permanent resident to actually have sex with a minor while abroad… It is a criminal activity to knowingly arrange, induce, procure or facilitate for profit the travel of a person when you know that the person is traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors.”

“Brazil Child Sex Tourism Resource with Timeline” provides links to eleven previous articles as well as associated documentation.

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