One of FBI 'Most Wanted' Captured
Suspected pedophile arrested in Thailand
Originally published by The Associated Press, August 21, 2001
BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug. 21 — A confessed American pedophile who is among the FBI's ten most-wanted fugitives was arrested Tuesday and is likely to be extradited to the United States, Thai police said. Eric Franklin Rosser, 49, a former concert pianist, was arrested by FBI agents and Thai police in Bangkok, where he was training to be an English language teacher. He had hoped to get a job tutoring children in northern Thailand.
Rosser, formerly of Syracuse, N.Y., had returned to Thailand on a fake passport two months ago, police said, despite jumping bail here last year before he was to stand trial for possession of child pornography and lewd behavior.
Police said he has since had liposuction and cosmetic surgery to disguise his identity.
Rosser said he came back to Thailand to visit his 2-year-old daughter. He told police his Thai wife lives in the United States but it was not clear who was looking after the child.
"I'm not the evil man everyone thinks I am. I love Thailand, that's why I'm back here again," a handcuffed Rosser told reporters as he was led into a police car to accompany officers on a search of his Bangkok apartment.
Police found an ounce of marijuana, two fake Swedish and Norwegian passports and dozens of diskettes containing child pornography.
A U.S. Embassy official said the United States was seeking his extradition.
Col. Suraphol Thongprasert, the chief Thai investigator in the case, said Rosser would likely be deported, pending a decision from the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Rosser was originally arrested in Bangkok on Feb. 9, 2000, after a raid turned up hundreds of explicit photographs and videos of girls who appeared to be younger than age 15.
In March 2000, he was also indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in Indianapolis, Indiana, on six counts of producing and distributing child pornography, including a video that showed him having sex with a girl said to be 11 years old.
The FBI described Rosser as an admitted child molester and offered up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest. His case was featured several times on the TV show "America's Most Wanted," drawing responses from viewers in 53 countries, the embassy official said.
At the time of his initial arrest, Rosser had been working as a pianist at Bangkok's luxury Oriental Hotel and gave music lessons to children from prominent families at his home.
He subsequently admitted in an interview with a Thai newspaper to frequent indecent acts with children and claimed he had lived a tortured life because of it.
Thailand and neighboring Southeast Asian countries have become havens for foreign pedophiles because of relaxed attitudes toward sex and prostitution, bribe-prone law enforcement and poverty that forces families to sell their children into the sex trade.
Rosser faces between five and 20 years' imprisonment if convicted of the Thai charges, but Thailand can choose to waive his trial and extradite him to the United States. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the six counts in the U.S. indictment.
Copyright © 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Musician Added To Most-Wanted List
Faces Child Porn Charges in U.S., Thailand
By James Gordon Meek
Originally published by APBnews.com on Dec. 27, 2000
WASHINGTON (APBnews.com) — A keyboard player who once performed with rocker John Mellencamp was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list today.
Eric Franklin Rosser, who turns 49 on Jan. 17, is under indictment in Indiana and in Thailand for allegedly collecting, producing and distributing child pornography.
FBI spokesman Rex Tomb told APBnews.com that the addition of a nonviolent alleged felon "is a departure for the top 10 list" but signals the bureau's concern over a particularly heinous type of criminal activity.
Rosser's most-wanted designation "shows the heightened interest federal law enforcement has in crimes against children," he said. Officials believe the publicity will help authorities find their man, Tomb said, but the bureau also wants to send the message that child sexual exploitation will not be tolerated.
Allegedly appears on sex tape
A resident of Bloomington, Ind., before moving to Southeast Asia years ago, Rosser once tickled the ivories for Mellencamp and played on one of the singer's albums in the early 1980s.
Since then he has lived in Thailand and operated a music school for privileged children, officials said.
He was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Indiana last March following a yearlong investigation of four other Bloomington men convicted of running a child-pornography ring that Rosser allegedly supplied.
Among other revelations, the probe exposed a videotape Rosser allegedly made in Thailand that showed the suspect and an 11-year-old girl engaged in sexual activity.
Some of the photos collected or produced by Rosser involved two victims under 11 from Bloomington and one Thai girl, the FBI said. The images were allegedly posted on the Internet.
Arrested in Thailand
Tipped off by FBI agents, the American was picked up by Royal Thai Police in February after a search of his music school uncovered more obscene materials, officials said.
A few weeks later he was charged with six offenses in the United States. Each count alleging conspiracy, distribution and transportation carries a maximum sentence of 15 years and a $250,000 fine. The production of child pornography charges carry additional sentences of 10 to 20 years upon conviction.
Rosser missed several court appearances in Bangkok, Thailand, following his arrest there, and has since been considered a fugitive from justice, Tomb said.
'Quite dangerous'
Richard Kammen, an Indianapolis attorney retained by Rosser's parents after the March indictment was handed up, declined to comment on the FBI action today.
If Rosser is taken into custody by U.S. authorities, his prosecution will likely be handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota, who said he was pleased the FBI put the fugitive on its high-profile list. "It's our hope that this will greatly assist in the process of finding him," he said. "We consider him quite dangerous."
If Thai officials capture Rosser first, the U.S. Justice Department will seek extradition, DeBrota said.
$50,000 reward
Those familiar with the case point out that Rosser has completely vanished since his initial arrest in Thailand. But DeBrota dismissed speculation that Rosser may no longer be alive.
He said FBI officials in Indiana announced today a reported sighting of Rosser in Amsterdam during August.
Rosser is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 145 pounds, wears prescription glasses and is completely bald at the top of his head. He has been known to use the alias Rice Sorser, the FBI said.
A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered by the FBI for information leading directly to his arrest.
James Gordon Meek is an APBnews.com editor in Washington (james.meek@apbnews.com).
Businessman Sentenced on Sexual Abuse Charge
Originally published by The Associated Press, November 18, 2002
DALLAS — A businessman with residences in Kailua, Hawaii, and the Dallas suburb of Coppell was sentenced Monday to 5½ years in prison and fined $30,000 for traveling overseas to engage in illegal sexual activity with a minor.
U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay recommended that Nicholas Bredimus, 52, be sent to the sex offender treatment program offered by the Bureau of Prisons at Butner, N.C. Lindsay ordered the sentence be followed by a three years of supervised release restricting his access to children and the Internet.
Bredimus admitted that in late October 2001 he traveled to Thailand, where he told an interpreter to find young boys or girls to come to his hotel room to be photographed.
He said he videotaped himself engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a 13-year-old boy and took digital images of the boy engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Bredimus is the owner of Bredimus Systems, Inc., of Coppell, now known as AIRLOGICA, Corp. He had been in the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service since his arrest in February in Hawaii.
A federal grand jury in Dallas indicted Bredimus in May, and he entered a guilty plea in August.
© 2002 The Associated Press.
