Doctor held for 'sex tourism'

2004-04-14 08:43

Atlanta - An American doctor has been arrested on federal charges of allegedly travelling to Russia to have sex with young boys, the US Attorney's office said Tuesday.

Gregory Kapordelis, 43, was arrested on Monday after arriving from Russia at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York. He is charged with travelling for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual conduct with a minor, US Attorney William Duffey said.

The federal complaint against him alleges that Kapordelis engaged, or attempted to engage, in sex acts with Russian boys as young as 12.

He is also accused of attempting to adopt a child from Russia whom he had allegedly used to arrange meetings with boys in St Petersburg, Duffey said.

Kapordelis was arraigned on Tuesday in federal court in New York, where a bail hearing was set for Friday. No plea was entered.

The St Petersburg police department in Russia began an investigation last month after receiving a report from a hotel security guard that Kapordelis allegedly molested boys at the hotel in 2003.

"It shows the critical role regular citizens play in identifying people who abuse children sexually," Duffey said at a news conference in Atlanta.

The federal complaint alleges that US immigration and customs agents and St Petersburg police interviewed several children, including a 12-year-old boy, who said they had sexual encounters with Kapordelis after he gave them pills.

The complaint also said the doctor routinely has children over to his house in Gainesville, about 95km northeast of Atlanta, and brought children from Russia, Africa and the Czech Republic to live with him in the United States for periods of time.

Kapordelis served as a doctor at summer camps elsewhere in north Georgia, Duffey said.

The case is being investigated by special agents of the federal Bureau of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with help from police in St. Petersburg, Russia.

- AP