Apache Junction man, 61, gets 10 years in child porn case

by Nathan Gonzalez
The Arizona Republic


An Apache Junction man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to transporting and possessing child pornography.

Mark Stephan Freitag, 61, pleaded guilty on April 14 and was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court on one count of transportation of child pornography and possessing child pornography, court documents state.

Freitag was initially arrested in Cambodia on May 18, 2008, after flying there from Arizona, court documents state. Cambodian National Police apprehended Freitag after "citizen complaints and victim reports" surfaced that he was engaging in sexual conduct with Cambodian boys.

"Freitag was interviewed and admitted that he was interested in and collected child pornography," court records state.

Witnesses and fellow tourists reported Freitag to Cambodian authorities after they saw him with four young boys aged 6 to 14 years old. One boy told authorities "Freitag had paid them for sex," which he did not deny, court documents state.

Authorities eventually were able to get Freitag back to the United States.

Freitag also admitted to downloading, collecting and saving child pornography, much of which was found downloaded to a computer inside an Apache Junction storage locker.

Freitag had 65 DVDs of child pornography in his possession when arrested by Cambodian police, court records show. In the storage locker, FBI investigators recovered 2,066 explicit images and 12 additional videos with children as young as 5 years old.