It was announced by the U.S. Justice Department on Monday that former Anchorage Hostel owner, 45-year-old Jason Jayavarman, was found “Guilty” of Attempted Sexual Exploitation of Children and Attempted Travel with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct in a Foreign Place.

Jayavarman was tried before U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason and found guilty by a federal jury for his actions that took place in 2013 where he was making arrangements to travel to Cambodia in order to engage in sexual relations with Vietnamese minors in Cambodia.

Unbeknownst to Jayavaman, the man he was preparing to travel to Asia with, was a undercover FBI investigator.

The investigation into Jayavarman’s activities came after an anonymous tip made to the Crime Stoppers Hotline.

Jayavarman, the former owner of Jason’s International Youth Hostel on Eide Street, had told the undercover agent that he had previously gone to Cambodia to engage in sex with children and had video-taped and took pictures of the encounters. He admitted to bringing these items back to Anchorage.

When search warrants at the hostel were carried out by FBI investigators, they seized videos and still images depicting Jayavarman and underage girls engaged in sex, the charging documents in the case stated. The prosecutor who presented the case at trial, Attorney Ravi Sinha, showed that Jayavarman had produced multiple videos of child pornography from 2010 and 2013. Subpoenaed records from airlines and Cambodian authorities showed that Jayavarman had traveled to Cambodia 12 times from 2009 to 2013.

Jayavarman, who has been in custody since his arrest, faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 60 years. Jayavarman will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler said in a statement, “These verdicts are the result of our committed efforts, working with all of our law enforcement partners, to fight exploitation of children, wherever it occurs, with all resources at our disposal and to prosecute those who prey on children to the fullest extent of the law. She commended the FBI, Anchorage Police Department investigations that led to the prosecution of Jayavarman. Loeffler also commended Crime Stoppers.

  Anchorage, cambodia, child exploitation, children, conviction, investigation, jason jayavarman, minors, sex, vietnamese