A Florida man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for engaging in commercial sex acts with a child abroad. Rugh James Cline, a former attorney from Tampa, was found guilty of traveling to Cambodia and paying four Cambodian children for sex on multiple occasions. At the time of his arrest in Cambodia, authorities discovered a laptop in his possession containing hundreds of images depicting child sexual abuse.
The announcement came from Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Sara C. Sweeney for the Middle District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor of the FBI Tampa Field Office.
The FBI led the investigation with assistance from the U.S. Department of State, Cambodian National Police, and Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. The prosecution team included Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills from the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ilyssa Spergel and Courtney Derry for the Middle District of Florida.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to address child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project aims to enhance coordination among federal, state, and local resources to apprehend offenders exploiting children online and provide aid to victims.
