British man indicted for attempted sex with minors in Coachella Valley
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted a British man on federal charges alleging that he traveled to the Coachella Valley in late January to engage in illicit sexual conduct with boys who were 10 and 12 years old.
Paul Charles Wilkins, 70, of Littleport in East Cambridgeshire, England, who had dual United States-United Kingdom citizenship, was charged Tuesday with one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of attempted sex trafficking of children, according to the Department of Justice.
Authorities said the first count of the indictment relates to Wilkins’ travel to the U.S. to allegedly have sex with two preteen boys, and the attempted sex trafficking charge stems from a deal he allegedly brokered with an undercover investigator in which he allegedly paid $250 to have sex with a 9-year-old boy at a condo he had rented in Palm Springs.
The condo complex is the Camino del Sol community on Racket Club Drive. According to the home owners association, the owner of one of the condo units agreed to rent the unit to Wilkins for the month of February. Wilkins told the owner of the unit that he worked for the US government and was only in Palm Springs for a month to finish some work.
Wilkins moved into the unit on February 1st and was arrested on the 11th.
KESQ talked with several of the residents at the complex and no one had seen Wilkins walking around the grounds.
“My office is committed to protecting children from predators – whether the predators are foreign or domestic,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “When this defendant’s original plan was thwarted, he made other arrangements to sexually abuse a child. He must be held accountable for these crimes.”
Authorities said Wilkins was arrested on February 11 at his rented apartment after paying the money to an undercover operative. He was charged in a criminal complaint that remains under seal and was ordered held without bond. Wilkins is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court on March 4.
Officials with the Department of Justice explained that an indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime, but the defendant is of course innocent until proven guilty in court.
According to the DOJ release, the charge of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct carries a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years. The charge of attempted sex trafficking of children carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and statutory maximum penalty of life without parole.
Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations handled the case.
“This case serves as a strong reminder that the abuse of children in the U.S. by citizens of any country is an unconscionable crime that will not be tolerated,” said Joseph Macias, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles. “Pedophiles who mistakenly believe they can escape detection by traveling to countries other than their own to commit child sex crimes should be on notice that HSI will use all the resources at its disposal to combat this reprehensible behavior and seek justice for the victims.”
