LOS ANGELES
A federal judge sentenced a Los Angeles resident Wednesday to 10 years in prison for traveling to Thailand to sexually abuse minor boys, according to officials.
Paul Alan Shapiro plead guilty to two child exploitation offenses, including engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and traveling in foreign commerce to participate in illegal sexual, officials said.
Shapiro, 71, a retired auto dealership employee, plead guilty one day before he was set to go on trial on July 24, 2017.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Shapiro will serve 10 years in federal prison, 20 years of supervised release following his prison sentence, and will pay $20,000 total to two victims, both of whom are citizens of Thailand.
U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee sentenced Shapiro.
According to plea documents, Shapiro traveled from Los Angeles to Thailand on numerous occasions over the past 20 years and engaged in sexual acts with male boys under the age of 16 on multiple times.
On at least two occasions in September 2012, Shapiro paid minors as young as 13 years old small amounts of local currency to engage in various sex acts with them.
According to other documents filed in the case, Shapiro photographed these encounters of himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the boys.