Couple adopted and groomed boy for abuse

This is one of the most horrendous, yet familiar cases of child abuse I have heard of:

An American pedophile has been convicted to 40 years in prison for years of sexual abuse of adopted Russian boy. His boyfriend from New Zealand who allegedly assisted in meticulously recording acts of sexual offence is going on trial at home.

Two members of the pedophile porn exchange ring Boy Lovers network, Mark J. Newton, 42 and his long-term partner Peter Truong, 36, were busted in 2011 on suspicion that they were sexually molesting their son, born to Russian mother in 2005.

A US judge in Indianapolis has imposed maximum sentence on American-born Mark J. Newton, 42, for sexual exploit of a minor and conspiracy to possess child pornography. Newton is also obliged to pay $400,000 in compensation to the boy’s account.

Newton’s boyfriend Peter Truong, 36, awaits court in New Zealand.

According to reports, the pair sought a surrogate mother in the United States, but failed to find one. They eventually found a Russian woman who they paid $8,000 to give birth using Newton’s sperm. The couple took the boy, who the media refers to as ‘Adam’, five days after his birth.

Amazingly, the couple were interviewed about their adoption by US media outlets. What no one knew is that the couple intended to raise the boy to be their sex slave:

At the age of 22 months, Adam was sexually abused by his ‘adoptive parents’ for the first time. After that he was abused on a daily basis. The ‘parents’ took photos and video recorded practically everything they did to him.

Later on they made Adam available for sex with other members of the pedophile ring in Australia, France, Germany and the US, for which Newton and Truong had to travel extensively. The investigators have found proof of at least eight men in these countries having contact with Adam when he was between the ages of two and six.

Two of these pedophiles have been charged already: they are American residents John R. Powell, 41, a Florida-based lawyer, and Jason Bettuo, a 36-year-old Michigan tennis coach.

Adam was made to believe that the life he lived was normal. He was also trained to give ‘correct’ answers if questioned about his life by an outsider, so when investigators first talked to him they got no information about his parents’ double life.

This was the same way my siblings and I were raised. It took years to get around that thinking, and some of it is still there wading around. That level of secrecy combined with exploitation never goes away. While part of me is stubborn and assertive, the submissiveness I was raised to display can surface from time to time. It is difficult to undo that kind of brainwashing, particularly when it is all you ever knew.

Fortunately, because the boy is still young there may be time to counter much of what they taught him. This was true with my youngest cousin, who was around the same age as ‘Adam’ when we took him out of that situation.

However, the damage is done, and there is a good chance that, like my cousin, ‘Adam’ will always harbor a fear towards people like his abusers. This may mean the boy may fear gay men and men in general. It is important for people, particularly gay people, to understand that his fear is not homophobia in the bigoted sense but it literal sense, and it is also justified. Two gay men did this to him, and it is only natural for him to assume, given his experiences, that all gay men will do the same thing.

Having been through something like this, I can say that those fears never really go away. While I am more comfortable around older people than I was as a child, the fear that adults will try to exploit me or any children around me is still there. I am still wary of feminists given my childhood experiences with my aunt, her partner, and her friends. I doubt my distrust of older men will go away.

Of course, everyone does not have the same reaction. My older cousin seems fine with everyone while my youngest brother cannot stand being around people he does not know well. So it is possible that ‘Adam’ may recover much better than people expect.

Abusive cases like this often prompt overreactions. For example:

“Russian orphans always attracted foreign perverts because of accessibility. The foreigners were simply coming and taking children for money,” Russian Ombudsman for Children’s Rights Pavel Astakhov told RT.

Russia has recently adopted two laws on adoption of Russian children by foreign families. In December 2012, Russia adopted the ‘Dima Yakovlev Law’ banning American citizens from adopting Russian children. In June 2013, The State Duma passed an amendment that bans the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples from abroad.

“In forbidding foreign adoptions we put a barrier against scoundrels,” Astakhov said, pointing out that he knows a number of similar cases when foreigners adopted children with solely sexual intent.

While it is entirely possible that some foreigners adopt children solely to sexually abuse them, those with such intent are not all foreigners. Russia has a very real child sexual exploitation problem, and to point the finger at foreigners ignores that. Likewise, most people who adopt children do not abuse them, whether the adopting parents are heterosexual or homosexual.

What these two men did is absolutely horrendous. However, that does not mean that all gay couples want to sexually abuse children. Countless gay men and lesbians adopt children no one wants, and give those children loving homes free from abuse. We must be careful not to use this one instance of two gay men abusing a child as “proof” that gay parents are dangerous or abusive.