International Sex-Crime Inquiries lead from UK swim coach to alleged scene of child rape in Arizona
Swimming authorities have been placed on high alert after the conviction of a British Swimming coach and member of the trustees of a swim club in Yorkshire for possession of around 150,000 images of child pornography, including rape scenes, and the arrest of a 29-year-old man in Arizona alleged to be pictured committing sex crimes in several of the photos.
A special-police forces inquiry involving a tip off from Queensland officers in Australia and stretching from England to Arizona in the United States led to a 20-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, being handed down to Mark Anthony Boyce, 56, of Whitby, Yorkshire, last Thursday.
Boyce, a member of the Trustee Board of the Whitby Seals Amateur Swimming Club, appeared before York Crown Court. He was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment (suspended) after previously pleading guilty to a series of offences including possession of indecent images of children.
The offences included ‘making’ 11,145 of the most serious Category A images, 12,177 Category B images and 121,047 Category C images. In law, ‘making’ an image can include opening an email attachment containing an indecent image, downloading such an image from a website or storing an image in a directory on a computer.
Boyce also admitted distributing two Category C images, possessing 150 prohibited images of a child and possessing 114 extreme pornographic images.
Among the images were several that allegedly show an American 29-year-old, Jesse Anthony Garcia, from Goodyear, Arizona, raping a child under 15 years old. Garcia was arrested on March 22 on suspicion of raping a child and then uploading photos and videos of the crime online, according to documents of the Maricopa County Superior Court.
In a UK newspaper report suggested that Garcia also has a connection to swimming but that has not been confirmed nor any record of him having coached at a swim club uncovered.
During investigations, agents learned that Garcia was dismissed more than four years ago from a high school in the “Phoenix Unified School District” after communicating with a student through social media, court documents show, according to the AZCentral.
Garcia faces a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor or worse. He is being held on a $1 million bond.
Boyce, meanwhile, had been remanded in custody for six months following his arrest last year. His sentencing included an intensive course of rehabilitation. Boyce has been placed on the Sex Offender’s Register in the UK, which rules him out from any future employment in work environments in which children are present.
The Register is accessible via a search engine at the UK Government website, which states:
“The majority of child sex offenders are known to their victims. They are often a member of the family, a friend of the victim, or a friend of the victim’s family. Only 20 per cent of child sex offences are carried out by strangers. Started in 2008, the child sex offender disclosure scheme was developed in consultation with Sara Payne, the former victims champion, along with the police, and children’s charities.”
How They Tracked Garcia Down
The AZ Central reports that Homeland Security said agents in Phoenix received a tip-off from the Queensland Police Service in Australia on March 17 that child sexual abuse photos and videos that showed up in connection with other inquiries had been traced to a home in Goodyear, Arizona, court documents show.
The paper reports: “In September 2018, a victim identification analyst with Queensland police found a series of photos and videos on a website known to law enforcement as a place where users shared and accessed child pornography and sexual abuse material, court documents say. The analyst later found 18 additional images or videos in which the child looked familiar but could not be positively identified, the court documents say.
“Garcia’s wife told authorities she knows the child. The Arizona Republic is not disclosing their relationship so as not to identify the child. At the time the photos and videos were taken, the child was estimated to be between 8 and 10 years old, the court documents say.”
More at the AZ Central on a story that became linked with the conviction of a UK swimming coach and Trustee Board member of an English swim club this past week.
UK Detective Constable Clair Gascoyne, the UK officer in the Boyce case, highlighted videos to the Victim ID Officer as part of the strategy to locate and safeguard any abused children. Working with US law enforcement agencies and the Queensland Police, DC Gascoyne and the team were able to help identify both the victim and the suspect, according to evidence read out in court in the Body .
Garcia appeared at Maricopa County Superior Court on March 23 and will appear before the court again in due course.
The child victim has been safeguarded from further alleged abuse, according to reports out of Arizona.
Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Lee Allenby, Online Abuse and Exploitation Team, told media in Yorkshire: “North Yorkshire Police is committed to preventing child sexual abuse, helping victims and bringing offenders to justice.
“It is a crime that can affect a child at anytime and anywhere. Those who obtain and distribute child abuse material – sickening and perverted individuals such as Mark Boyce – directly contribute to the sexual exploitation of children. This is because the children involved are continually re-victimised.”
Det Sgt Allenby added:
“It is very satisfying that we were able to identify the suspect for alleged offences in another country and ensure the vulnerable young victim is now receiving the professional support and care they so desperately needed.”