Guilty plea in Thailand child-sex charges

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NEWARK, N.J., May 5 (UPI) -- A Canadian man has pleaded guilty to running a Thailand brothel catering to American tourists seeking sex with boys, some as young as 4, authorities said.

John Wrenshall, 63, said he invited sex tourists to his home outside Bangkok and let them videotape themselves abusing young children, the Department of Justice said in a release Wednesday.

Thousands of men visit Thailand each year to have sex with children, officials say, and Wrenshall allegedly began operating his brothel as early as 2000, the DOJ said.

Wrenshall came under federal investigation after a New Jersey man, Wayne Nelson Corliss, 60, was arrested in 2008 for traveling to the brothel, officials said.

Records from Corliss' home computer led investigators to six other men, including Wrenshall.

Three of Wrenshall's U.S. clients -- Corliss, Burgess Lee Burgess and Mitchell Kent Jackson -- pleaded guilty and were sentenced on sex tourism and related charges, the DOJ said.

Wrenshall faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, a maximum of 20 years for conspiracy to produce child pornography and 15 years for distribution of child pornography, the DOJ release said.