LOS ANGELES
A Englishman man who was previously charged with traveling to
the Coachella Valley to have sex with pre-teen boys was charged Friday with addition child pornography charges, according to officials.
Paul Charles Wilkins, 70, of Littleport in East Cambridgeshire, England, a dual United States-United Kingdom citizen, was named in a four-count superseding indictment that now includes charges of transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
The indictment reiterates charges contained in the original indictment that was filed in February – traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and attempted sex trafficking of children, officials said.
Wilkins allegedly travelled to the Coachella Valley in late January in order to engage in illicit sexual conduct with boys who were 10 and 12 years old.
While the first count of the indictment relates to Wilkins travel to the United States to allegedly have sex with two pre-teen boys, the attempted sex trafficking charge stems from a deal he allegedly brokered with an undercover investigator in which Wilkins allegedly paid $250 to have sex with a 9-year-old boy at an apartment he had rented in Palm Springs, according to the indictment.
The child pornography counts related to images found on a laptop computer and a digital storage device that were seized when Wilkins was arrested on February 11 at his rented apartment after allegedly paying the money to the undercover operative, according to the charges.
“Child predators – whether foreign or domestic – threaten the most vulnerable members of society, which is why we devote considerable resources to stopping them,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “The new indictment adds additional charges that more fully reflect the totality of this defendant’s conduct and could subject him to a longer prison term.”
Wilkins, who has been ordered held without bond, is currently scheduled to go on trial on July 19, officials said.
Wilkins is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.