A former general manager at an orphanage in Malawi was
sentenced today to 25 years in prison for one count of engaging in illicit
sexual conduct in a foreign place, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie
R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney
Richard L. Durbin Jr. of the Western District of Texas.
Gerald Campbell, 66, of Odessa, Texas, pleaded guilty on May
18, 2016. Senior U.S. District Judge
Robert A. Junell of the Western District of Texas presided over the sentencing
and also ordered Campbell to serve a lifetime term of supervised release and to
pay $40,000 in restitution.
According to admissions made in connection with his plea
agreement, Campbell engaged in sexual acts with eight minors, all of whom were
orphans living at the Victory Christian Children’s Home in Malawi between 1997
and 2009. Campbell admitted that he used
his position as orphanage manager, with access to better accommodations and
amenities, such as hot water, to lure the minor victims, one of whom was
suffering from the effects of HIV, into his house and sexually abuse them. In addition, Campbell admitted that he knew
that what he was doing was wrong and that he thought nobody would believe the
minors if they reported the abuse.
Furthermore, Campbell admitted that he sent money to some of the minors
in an attempt to keep them from reporting the abuse to authorities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations investigated the case with assistance from the Texas Department
of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Division. Trial Attorneys Leslie Fisher and Austin M.
Berry of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
(CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandi Young of the Western District of
Texas prosecuted the case.
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