Child Molester, Focus of 2006 'Sac Bee' Series, Extradited to U.S.

By: E&P Staff A convicted child molester who was the focus of a 2006 Sacramento Bee series on California's failure to rehabilitate sexually violent predators, was expected to arrive in Los Angeles Monday afternoon from Cambodia on U.S. charges of illicit sexual conduct abroad.

Jack Louis Sporich was arrested by Cambodian authorities in February on allegations he lured three Cambodian boys aged 9 to 12 to his home, the Bee reported on its Web site in a story by Sam Stanton. Sporich allegedly used toys, candy, and Cambodian currency, dropped as he rode the street in his motorbike, to attract children.

Authorities believe Sporich, 75, has molested more than 500 boys since the 1960s. He served nine years in prison on convictions in seven counts of molestation in Ventura County, Calif., and was then sent to a state hospital as a sexually violent predator. The Bee in its series reported he refused treatment and was freed in 2004 when two juries could not agree on whether he would molest again.

The wealthy retired engineer moved to Arizona, where he insisted in a 2006 interview with Bee reporters that he was not a threat to anyone. But he moved to Cambodia soon afterward, building a $1.2 billion home near Siem Reap, the town tourists visit to see the Angkor Wat ruins.

Sporich's extradition to the U.S. was part of "Operation Twisted Traveler," a multinational law enforcement effort targeting "sex tourist" pedophiles, the Bee reported.

Court documents reported by the Bee suggest he paid the parents of his then-18-year-old fiancee as much as $2,000 and a motorbike when they became engaged. The couple soon began adopting boys, the court papers said.