Bangkok Library Digital library and information center for Bangkok, Thailand

A world-renowned Russian conductor and composer has been charged with raping a 14-year-old boy in Thailand.

Mr. Pletnev, 53, was arrested in Pattaya, a seaside resort east of Bangkok. The coastal city is a popular destination for many nationalities including Russian tourists and expatriates. It has a thriving sex industry driven by overseas visitors and the domestic market, and is widely regarded as the sex capital of Thailand and south-east Asia.

Feds charge longtime Seattle resident with Thailand sex tourism
Charge: Man paid for sex with 11-year-old, 200+ videos recovered

By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

A retiree from Seattle already imprisoned in Thailand is facing federal sex tourism charges on allegations that he bought sex from girls as young as 11.

Glenn Richard Allen, a 63-year-old raised in the Seattle area, was indicted in U.S. District Court earlier this month by a Seattle grand jury.

Federal authorities claim Allen was caught with 200 to 300 DVDs showing himself sexually abusing Thai children at his condominium in the resort town of Pattaya City, located outside of Bangkok.

Thai authorities investigating child prostitution in the country arrested Allen, a Canadian-born U.S. citizen, in 2007 alongside two British men and a Finnish citizen. Several girls identified Allen as having paid them for sex; four victims are identified in charging papers.

Already sentenced to 16 years in a Thai prison, Allen is accused of paying a "procurer" to bring children to him.

"Allen made it clear that he preferred females, approximately 12 years old," an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent investigating the case said in court documents, recounting the statements the "procurer" made to authorities.