| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) An 85-year-old Garden Grove man was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on nine counts for allegedly trying to travel to the Philippines to have sex with two underage girls, officials said.
John W. Seljan, who has been held without bail since his arrest earlier this month, was charged with attempted travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct; four counts of use of an interstate facility to entice a minor; two counts of production of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography.
Seljan was arrested Oct. 3 while preparing to board a flight at Los Angeles International Airport. He allegedly was planning a trip to the Philippines to have sex with the girls, ages 9 and 12.
Pornographic materials, sexual aids, and nearly 100 pounds of chocolate and candy were discovered in his luggage when he was arrested, officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
A later search of Seljan's home turned up more pornography.
Seljan is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 27 in federal court in Santa Ana. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of more than 200 years in prison.
The investigation started in August 2003 when a routine inspection of outbound foreign mail turned up incriminating correspondence and parcels that Seljan was sending to the Philippines. The correspondence indicated that he planned to travel to the Philippines to engage in sexual acts with the two girls. Seljan apparently knew the girls and their families from previous trips, authorities said.
It is the second case prosecuted under the recently passed Protect Act, which strengthened the government's ability to investigate and punish violent crimes committed against children, authorities said. His arrest was part of Operation Predator, an ongoing initiative to protect children that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests nationwide.