10-year prison term for Australian rugby union player & geneticist who traveled to US to have sex with 6-year-old boy

An Australian geneticist and rugby union player admitted to the judge of the US District Court on Wednesday that he flew to Los Angeles to have sex with a 6-year-old boy. With his admission, 33-year-old Michael Quinn faces a possible 10- to 13-year prison term.

Sydney Morning Herald reports that Quinn was arrested during an undercover sting operation at a beachside LA hotel on May 21. Quinn studied at Monash University and works as a geneticist at an IVF clinic in Melbourne. He is also a player of the Melbourne Chargers rugby team.

He was supposed to pay US$250 (A$334) to have sex with a male child, but it turned out the pimp and paedophiles he was meeting at the hotel were agents of the US Immigration and Homeland Security Investigations unit of Customs Enforcement.

Quinn’s online contact offered him boys aged between 5 and 10 whom he would meet at a party in an LA hotel with fellow paedophiles. He arrived in the US on May 19 and contacted the child traffickers, reports BBC.

But there never was a real six-year-old boy involved in the sting operations. US Attorney Eileen Decker, who notes that the geneticist travelled all the way to LA to have sex with a child, assures “Fortunately, law enforcement was able to ensure that no child was put in harm’s way and that Mr Quinn would face severe consequences for his conduct.”

Even before his May 19 flight, Quinn was being tracked by an undercover agent who lurked on a social networking site that catered to group interested to have sex with children. Quinn posted on the website using the name “Mick.” The agent offered him a boy.

Quinn flew with the rugby team who were unaware of his plan. They stayed in a rented house in Hollywood Hills, and on May 21, he sneaked out and went to the LA hotel where he was apprehended.

Ten minutes into the hotel room which had the Cartoon Network on the TV and cupcakes with Toy Story theme, as Quinn handed the money to an agent, law enforcers entered the room and arrested everyone, according to ICE special agent Aaron McClellan.

Authorities initially charged the geneticist with attempted sex trafficking of a minor which has a minimum 15-year prison term sentence and maximum life without parole, but Quinn entered into a plea deal. The rugby player is scheduled for sentencing on Oct 3.