B.C. man charged under sex tourist laws

VANCOUVER - A British Columbia man has been charged under Canada's sex-tourism legislation, the RCMP said Tuesday.

Kenneth Robert Klassen, 56, of Burnaby was arrested Friday and is charged with 35 sex offences allegedly involving 17 victims in Colombia, Cambodia and the Philippines.

The international art dealer remains in custody and is scheduled to appear Monday in Vancouver provincial court.

It's only the third time in Canada that a man has been charged under the sex tourism law, which aims to protect children in foreign countries from sexual exploitation by Canadians.

The law was introduced a decade ago, but was recently amended to make such crimes easier for police to investigate by eliminating the need for them to seek consent of the foreign country where the crimes allegedly occurred.

The first prosecution was Donald Michel Bakker of Penticton, B.C., who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 after police discovered videotapes showing him sexually assaulting Vancouver prostitutes and young girls in Cambodia.

The 2.5-year investigation began at Vancouver's International Airport on Aug. 27, 2004, when officers with Canada Border Service Agency identified a suspicious parcel found to contain undeclared DVDs, which contained child pornography images.

The parcel, destined for a home in Burnaby, was turned over to the RCMP for investigation. The parcel was monitored and was allegedly picked up by Klassen, who was arrested at the time.

Search warrants were executed on his home and a storage locker, where police seized a video camera and 21 DVDs that allegedly containing video clips of Klassen having sex with 92 girls in three countries.

Police allege the DVDs contained images of the accused allegedly having illegal sex with girls ranging in age from nine- to 18-years-old.

The 35 charges involve 17 alleged victims - six Colombians, eight Cambodians and three in the Philippines.

RCMP Cpl. Pierre Lemaitre credited Foreign Affairs and international police agencies for co-operation, including help from the FBI and police in Colombia and the Philippines.