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CNN Presents
CNN Presents: Romanian Sex Trade
Aired February 15, 2004 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the square, in the subways, the street children of Romania are being sold for sex to wealthy Westerners.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What should I be looking to give them cash?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would give them about (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, go undercover. Hear their shocking stories of sex and survival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when I lived with Tom, every day, every day. Boys come and go, come and go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And meet the men who make them easy prey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get around. I am the biggest slut in Bucharest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside the child sex trade, tonight on CNN PRESENTS.
AARON BROWN, HOST, CNN PRESENTS: It is a grim and sickening image. Young children bought and sold by adults who use them for sex.
Welcome to CNN PRESENTS. I'm Aaron Brown.
These children are kidnapped from their homes, sold often by their families, tricked or forced by desperation. They are the more than one million children, the U.N. says, are trafficked each and every year to be used for labor or sex.
And it all happens much closer to home than you might think. Increasingly, children are taken from poor nations in Eastern Europe and trafficked to the rich countries of the West.
Tonight we go to one of those poor countries, Romania, to hear from some of the children. And we tracked down one of the predators who puts these kids up for sale.
It is a disturbing look inside the child sex trade, and we must warn you, as you would expect, it contains some graphic language and images.
(BEGIN VIDEO) LIVIU TIPURITA, FILMMAKER: It's Christmas in Romania, and I'm catching up with an old friend. This is Laurentiu. He's just turned 15, and he's been living on the streets of Bucharest for most of his life.
My name is Liviu, and I'm a Romanian filmmaker.
I first met Laurentiu three years ago. It was freezing, but all he had to wear was a sweatshirt.
Soon after, Laurentiu set himself on fire. I never found out the real reason why he tried to commit suicide.
I returned to Romania because I've heard that child prostitution and sex trafficking have become a big problem in Eastern Europe. Tens of thousands of kids may be involved in Romania alone.
I asked my friend if he knows anything about it. He starts telling me about the German tourists he's met.
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): He asked if I wanted (ILLEGIBLE) and I said yes.
I went to his home and I did it (ILLEGIBLE). He put my thing in his mouth.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Did he give you something? What did he give you?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Money.
TIPURITA: The man has paid for Laurentiu to get himself a passport. He has promised to take him to Germany after Christmas.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): If he comes for you, would you go?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Of course I would go. For money. Here no one gives you money. Even those boots were bought by a foreigner.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Did you (ILLEGIBLE)?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Boys? (ILLEGIBLE) money. (ILLEGIBLE).
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) English? (ILLEGIBLE).
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) yes.
TIPURITA: Laurentiu says he started going with foreigners at the age of 12, just before he set himself on fire. I had no idea.
Laurentiu says there are dozens of Western pedophiles preying on kids in Bucharest - American, German, Dutch and British, like Tom.
My plan is to track them down, to learn how this works, and to find out what happens to kids who've been trafficked abroad.
Laurentiu lives with a gang of street kids in the Bucharest underground. He's one of about 3,000 homeless kids in the city. They survive by begging.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Will you give me some change?
TIPURITA: Many of them are addicted to sniffing solvents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Marijuana (ILLEGIBLE). Marijuana. Booze. (ILLEGIBLE). This is out (ILLEGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Who's this gal? Madalina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE)
MADALINA: I've been 11 years on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): We are the glue sniffers. (ILLEGIBLE).
MADALINA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): This is our gang.
TIPURITA: These kids have many stories, of the foreigners who come here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): There are many pedophiles in Bucharest. Some are English, but (ILLEGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) are foreigners (ILLEGIBLE) poor two kids abroad.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you heard of girls that went abroad?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes. Italy, France, America and Spain.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Would you go?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes. I would go.
TIPURITA: They say the foreigners come at night to pick them up in cars and take them away for sex.
The cruising area is above ground, just off University Square.
My friend, Laurentiu, is there most nights, desperate for money. I'm about to see for myself how the pedophiles operate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TIPURITA: Romania is desperately poor. Its economy collapsed with communism. And now, nearly half of its people live on less than $4 a day.
Children have been forced onto the streets and into the sex trade to make money to survive.
Georgette Mulheir runs an agency called Hope and Homes, working with Romanian children. She says that sex trafficking is a big problem in Eastern Europe.
GEORGETTE MULHEIR, HOPE & HOMES FOR CHILDREN: There's somewhere around, I don't know, around the 250,000, 300,000 per year mark. That's a huge figure. We know it's a huge figure.
And within that figure, it's probably, certainly from our experience and the experience of other organizations who work within Romania, that about one-third of those who are trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation are children.
We do know, and we can see from working on the ground, that the numbers of children being trafficked is increasing, and I feel it's increasing rapidly.
TIPURITA: It is a grim situation.
Tonight, I'm keeping a watch on the square, where my friend, 15- year-old Laurentiu, gets picked up by foreigners.
Laurentiu turns up. A few minutes later, a man in a yellow jacket walks towards him. They talk. He takes him to his car. It looks like Laurentiu is going to get in. Then, the man drives off. The arrangement has been made.
Laurentiu goes back. A few minutes later, another car stops. Laurentiu runs over. This one picks him up.
An hour later, he comes back.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What did he do to you?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): He wanted me to wank him and to do it between my buttocks. I said it hurts and I don't want to. And he said, OK, wank me.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): How did he know about you?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): From his friend. He told him that I would be in the square.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): So, they all know each other?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes.
TIPURITA: The next day, I find him with a friend, sniffing solvent. LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I want (ILLEGIBLE). Come down. The sun is angry and it's not good.
TIPURITA: His life is killing him.
A few days later, I treat the children to a film - "Harry Potter." Laurentiu's 12-year-old cousin, Koreem (ph) , turns up. I've been told that he, too, has been molested by a foreigner.
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I liked "Harry Potter." He's not afraid.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) afraid?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): A little.
TIPURITA: Koreem (ph) agrees to tell me his story.
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): It was me and another boy. He said, "Let's go (ILLEGIBLE). (ILLEGIBLE) foreigner (ILLEGIBLE) give me money. We went and entered the (ILLEGIBLE) of flats and went to the second floor.
When the foreigner opened the door, he brushed the other boy away. I didn't have time to run and he caught me. When the police came that evening, the (ILLEGIBLE) grabbed me and threw me from a second floor window.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Who threw you from the second floor?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): A German foreigner.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What happened when he threw you out?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Look here.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you got a scar because of it?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes. I broke my head.
TIPURITA: The memory has made Koreem (ph) physically sick.
Word has gone around University Square that I'm trying to find out who the foreign pedophiles are.
One day there's a new face among the gang. He's called George. I've been told he knows Tom, the Englishman. Surprisingly, George speaks English.
TIPURITA: How come that you have such good English?
GEORGE: I learned a lot with Tom.
TIPURITA: But, who is Tom. GEORGE: Tom is a gay guy. I met him two years ago. I lived with him for five, six months. Made a gay site, make money off of it.
TIPURITA: What's on this site?
GEORGE: Pictures. Pictures with young boys, naked, jerking. He took pictures of me also.
TIPURITA: George says Tom picked him up two years ago, when he was 17, and paid him for sex. He says Tom runs tours for Westerners who come to Romania to have sex with boys, advertised on his Internet site.
GEORGE: I think Tom sends them pictures. OK, for this day you can have these boys. For the next day, you can have these boys. If (ph) you come here one week, you can have a different boy every day.
TIPURITA: You're absolutely sure that he's British.
GEORGE: I'm absolutely turn (ph) 100 percent sure. That's why it's going so successful.
TIPURITA: So, what's his surname?
GEORGE: Tom Peters.
TIPURITA: George has the address of Tom's Internet site. But he's never seen it himself, because it costs money.
It has hundreds of pornographic photos of a number of Romanian boys, including George.
This is the first time you see yourself.
GEORGE: Yes.
TIPURITA: How do you feel?
GEORGE: Not so nice.
TIPURITA: It's a crime to deal in pornographic pictures of under 18s. But despite the site's claims, George says many of the boys are under 18.
GEORGE: Here in this picture, he was not - he was not even 16, maybe not even 15.
TIPURITA: How do you know these guys?
GEORGE: From Tom, from that time when I lived with Tom, I told you, every day, every day, boys come and go, come and go.
TIPURITA: Well, did Tom have sex with all of them?
GEORGE: Every one of them.
TIPURITA: Underneath George's photo is an offer. Members of the site can e-mail for special services. It includes meeting the models.
I e-mailed Tom, pretending to be a Westerner. I'm hoping he'll invite me on one of his sex tours.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TIPURITA: By now, I've spent weeks with Laurentiu and his gang. They told me many stories of child sex trafficking.
Lots of kids are being taken abroad, not just by foreigners, but by Romanians.
Christina is 18 now. She says that when she was 14, she was trafficked to Italy.
CHRISTINA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): We used to go to the traffic lights. We'd wear a (ILLEGIBLE) and show them our thighs. They used to stop and get us into their cars, saying, "Do you want to come around to my house?" There were two other girls who were minors like me.
TIPURITA: Christina's friends were promised proper jobs in Italy. But when they arrived, they were forced into prostitution. This is one way to move children into the sex trade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): There were many girls who (ILLEGIBLE) who were 15, 16 years old. If (ILLEGIBLE), saying, "If you don't do it now, (ILLEGIBLE)." And the girls stayed out of fear.
TIPURITA: I decided to pursue the traffickers to the West, along the route so many of them take. I head to Italy.
Milan is the richest city in Italy. The center is full of Romanians. Local charities say child prostitution goes on here, but it can't tell me where.
Over the years, I've investigated many stories of sex trafficking. But I had no idea what I was about to find out.
The city at night is full of prostitutes.
On one of the main roads in Milan, a girl is working next to a bus shelter. She looks no older than 15. I speak to her in my language to see if she's Romanian, too.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I want to talk to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What?
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I want to talk to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): There's nothing we need to talk about.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I'm going to pay you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): OK. But we'll go to my parking place. What do you want to talk about?
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE). Where's your parking place?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Drive on.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you talked to small kids? Are they prostituted in this area?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): No, not in this area. They have their own area, where only the gays go.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Where is the area?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I don't know. Don't ask me. But, yes, there are people who prostitute kids.
TIPURITA: She says there's a camp full of Romanians in the city. I should ask there.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): How do you feel doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I thought I was coming for something else.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): So they told you something else? What did they say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Bar work.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): A bar job. And when you got here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): The bar is gone. It's bankrupt. Blah, blah, blah. The owner doesn't want to.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I said, I don't want to do this. But what could I have done? Will you take me back now?
TIPURITA: The camp she told me about is near a cemetery called the cemetery maggiore. At the camp I use a hidden camera and a cover story. I'm pretending to look for a boy who has disappeared from Bucharest and been trafficked abroad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you seen the boy?
TIPURITA: The men all say there's no underage prostitution in the area. But as I walk out, I meet some children.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) prostitution?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE). Search on the street. TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): In the evening?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): The evening.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Children?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes, children, 12, 13 and 14 years old.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE). Yes, they walk up and down.
TIPURITA: I'm coming back here after dark to see if children really are being sold for sex.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I'm on the road where I've been told children are being prostituted. Men line the curb. There in the headlights are three boys. The ones on the wall are about 13. The older one is flashing his penis. He's gesturing me to stop.
Just next to the cemetery, there is a car park. Lots of cars are circling around. Inside, male prostitutes are bargaining with the drivers. In the middle of it all, a young boys on bicycles.
I spot a man and a boy standing together. The man hurries off. I drive up to the boy. I pretend to be a westerner, and talk in frigid (ph) Italian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Money?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An hour?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy, this guy says he will pay 40 euros for an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk to my father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening boss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am the father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a month ago my child went with a Moroccan. He took the child, and he paid me forty. He gave him sleeping pills. The child...Since then I have lost my trust. Understand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen. We need to eat, understand? We are Romanians. We need to eat, we need cigarettes...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's your son?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's my son, but it's not a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 30 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 30 minutes? How much?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pay him 40.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to give it to you in the ass, and the mouth. But your not going to give it to him. Understand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, 40.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey boss, I'm going to take your number. Understand? Any problem with you...understand? He's my son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: In all the years I have investigated sexual exploitation, I never thought I'd find a man prostituting his own son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When did you start?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Working?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For sex.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, but we need the money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the day, he has to earn money by begging.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please lady give me money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Millan (ph), by the cathedral. Yes, the cathedral.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I've arranged for someone to ring me. It gives me an excuse not to have sex with the boy. On the way back, he tells me about the time he spotted (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Moroccan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You finished?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: The father asked for a cigarette. And we start chatting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Have you worked in Romania in sex?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No no. Because
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you're married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your wife? Does she know about Alin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? What do you say to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He begs, he works.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your son? Does he like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't asked him to honest. Do you understand? I haven't asked him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: He shows me his son's identity card issued by a local charity. It shows his real name, and his birth date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: And this was when he was born? 23rd of the 10, '88?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just 14.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I want to know if there are other families pimping their children. I drive around the cemetery Nijora (ph). Night after night. I see more boys being pimped. One night, I'm offered a boy who looks about 10. He's with a gang of men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me money for food boss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do it with him now? Give me 30 euros.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will go for a ride with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can do it with him. He is my brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your brother?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy suddenly seems afraid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is afraid to go alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then the gang runs off. A police car is right behind me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: But they are not interested in the pimps. They are just looking for illegal immigrants.
In all the time I've spent at Nijora (ph), all the boys I've met here, say they've been pimped by their own families. I've been to see a local agency that deals with underage prostitution. They can only help kids who want to be helped.
And the truth is, none of the children I have met have said they want to leave their families. There are many reasons parents may do this to their own children.
GEORGETTE MULHEIR, HOPE AND HOMES FOR CHILDREN: Many of the children who have been trafficked from Romania unfortunately are trafficked with the blessing of their parents. Some of them are sold by their parents.
Whether those parents are necessarily aware of the fact their children are going to be sexually exploited is another issue. It is very hard to understand. But it's in a country where society has been brutalized for 50-60 years of dictatorship.
And is then bombarded with images of the American dream. Of riches as well. And where the legal structures are perhaps -- some of the judicial structures are not in place necessarily to deal as adequately as they should with problems of trafficking.
You put it all together, and you have a recipe for disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: But now, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from Romania. I've had a reply from the web site that offers sex tours (ph). The e-mail says; "Selected clients can meet the boys pictured on the site for a price."
It's signed T.P. It must be Tom Peters, the Englishman. I'm getting closer to the man I've been hunting. I arranged to meet him next week in Bucharest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: By now, it's high summer in Romania. The main train station in Bucharest is where Tom has arranged to meet us. I can't pose as a client on Tom's sex holiday, because he's expecting a Westerner.
So my English colleague Andrew goes instead. Andrew is wearing a hidden camera. And I'm filming secretly behind him.
The man turns up with a teenage boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must be the man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wondered where you were.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: England, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 16.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's my friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom reveals how he first came here. As a Cherokee (ph) worker, in an orphanage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember at these orphanages with all these kids in a really bad way. I met this Romanian boy in this village. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: He gets down to business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many boys do you want to come tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is cheap. It would cost you like four times more in England. Technically, it's not legal if you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for money. Money is not legal. If you give them money that's prostitution. So you give them presents. They are your friend, and you give them presents.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: UNIDENTIFIED MALE:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But to sleep with he's just a dream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) smooth, and oh my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom invites Andrew to his apartment to see photographs of the boys he can buy for the night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is how the poor people live. Let me show you some beauties. So many f***ing boys (UNINTELLIGIBLE) .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tattoos at the age 16.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am the biggest slut in Bucharest. This is a dream, believe me. He is 16 three days ago. The body is just shew! And three days ago I had his brother.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I'm meeting up with (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He is the boy who says he lived with the English pimp, Tom, at the age of 17.
How many boys has he had sex with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot. From what I know. Hundreds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: What kind of boys does Tom like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Young looking, innocent looking, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) then he goes crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: How does he get these boys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the money. He offer money to everybody he (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to get the boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you find boys for (ph) him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says, Tom paid him for sex. And used him and others to recruit more boys into the sex trade. Tonight, Andrew is being supplied with a boy from Tom's web site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, how are you? I'm Andrew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are 16?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Over dinner, Tom opens up about his trafficking operation. He says Florene (ph) is being sent abroad to some of his rich Western clients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom describes some of his Western clients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have two German friends, one's this German guy. The other guy, is a f***ing judge!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a what?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: A judge!
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Seriously?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surprising what you meet sometimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Andrew is expected to take Florene (ph) back to his apartment for sex.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SO how did you meet Tom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years. Me I have 14.
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: When you meet Tom, 14?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you had sex at 14?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sex Tom, 14, you? Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Andrew tries to find out how Florene (ph) will be trafficked to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Germany. Romanian children can't travel abroad without their parents consent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you have passport, ticket?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has helped (ph) Mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pay your Mother?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Yes. Give money for everything. For heat for everything, you understand? Because not have much money, Mother. Mother no work. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) help much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet your Mother?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I can't know what that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) told Florene's (ph) parents when they met. But they agree to sign an important legal document that would allow him to travel abroad without them.
Andrew pays Florene (ph), and makes an excuse not to have sex. But Andrew's last meeting with Tom, Tom is worried. He heard the police are asking questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told you that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) cop just picked me up, and said come with me. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom says he's been in trouble before. And has always bribed his way out. Romanian officials seem to have little awareness of the problem.
When I was making this film, I have personally met dozens of underage boys who were offered for sex in Western countries. Countries like Italy or France. Does this shock you?
JON GABRIEL SOTTRESCU, ROMANIAN DIRECTORATE FOR COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME: As I told you before, I could accept, I can accept the idea of some children becoming victims of sexual exploitation, but just in very isolated (ph) cases, and not as a trade itself, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Are the Romanian current laws against (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sex trades strong enough?
SOTTRESCU: I don't know how to settle this moral dispute. We cannot speak about child sex trade, because we don't have such a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom says, he's going to leave Romania.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andrew has already spent about 250 pounds on Tom and his boys. Now, they agree on a final price.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much. I'm a man who pays his debts. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Andrew says good-bye. A week later, Tom left Romania.
I go to find my friend, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the street child who first told me about Tom. He's now making small amounts of money dealing in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) solvent (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Now (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hasn't come back for him. He still wants to be taken abroad by someone. In the meantime, he is selling himself to other foreigners.
Now in summer, there are even more sex stories here. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) points one out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom Peters is gone from Romania. But nothing here has changed. Pedophiles (ph) and traffickers still do their work. Children are still for sale in University (ph) Square.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN PRESENTS: The Romanian government says it's cracking down on human trafficking of all kinds. And it points to a tough new law passed late in 2001, and a number of convictions in the past year.
And in it's latest report on human trafficking worldwide, U.S. State Department praises some of the steps taken by the Romanians, but says they still need to do more.
And as for Tom, he has returned now to England, where he is already a registered sex offender. And as a result of this film, authorities have used a court order to increase the restrictions on him.
That's it for this edition of CNN PRESENTS. I'm Aaron Brown; we'll see you next week.
END
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 15, 2004 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the square, in the subways, the street children of Romania are being sold for sex to wealthy Westerners.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What should I be looking to give them cash?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would give them about (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, go undercover. Hear their shocking stories of sex and survival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when I lived with Tom, every day, every day. Boys come and go, come and go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And meet the men who make them easy prey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get around. I am the biggest slut in Bucharest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside the child sex trade, tonight on CNN PRESENTS.
AARON BROWN, HOST, CNN PRESENTS: It is a grim and sickening image. Young children bought and sold by adults who use them for sex.
Welcome to CNN PRESENTS. I'm Aaron Brown.
These children are kidnapped from their homes, sold often by their families, tricked or forced by desperation. They are the more than one million children, the U.N. says, are trafficked each and every year to be used for labor or sex.
And it all happens much closer to home than you might think. Increasingly, children are taken from poor nations in Eastern Europe and trafficked to the rich countries of the West.
Tonight we go to one of those poor countries, Romania, to hear from some of the children. And we tracked down one of the predators who puts these kids up for sale.
It is a disturbing look inside the child sex trade, and we must warn you, as you would expect, it contains some graphic language and images.
(BEGIN VIDEO) LIVIU TIPURITA, FILMMAKER: It's Christmas in Romania, and I'm catching up with an old friend. This is Laurentiu. He's just turned 15, and he's been living on the streets of Bucharest for most of his life.
My name is Liviu, and I'm a Romanian filmmaker.
I first met Laurentiu three years ago. It was freezing, but all he had to wear was a sweatshirt.
Soon after, Laurentiu set himself on fire. I never found out the real reason why he tried to commit suicide.
I returned to Romania because I've heard that child prostitution and sex trafficking have become a big problem in Eastern Europe. Tens of thousands of kids may be involved in Romania alone.
I asked my friend if he knows anything about it. He starts telling me about the German tourists he's met.
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): He asked if I wanted (ILLEGIBLE) and I said yes.
I went to his home and I did it (ILLEGIBLE). He put my thing in his mouth.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Did he give you something? What did he give you?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Money.
TIPURITA: The man has paid for Laurentiu to get himself a passport. He has promised to take him to Germany after Christmas.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): If he comes for you, would you go?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Of course I would go. For money. Here no one gives you money. Even those boots were bought by a foreigner.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Did you (ILLEGIBLE)?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Boys? (ILLEGIBLE) money. (ILLEGIBLE).
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) English? (ILLEGIBLE).
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) yes.
TIPURITA: Laurentiu says he started going with foreigners at the age of 12, just before he set himself on fire. I had no idea.
Laurentiu says there are dozens of Western pedophiles preying on kids in Bucharest - American, German, Dutch and British, like Tom.
My plan is to track them down, to learn how this works, and to find out what happens to kids who've been trafficked abroad.
Laurentiu lives with a gang of street kids in the Bucharest underground. He's one of about 3,000 homeless kids in the city. They survive by begging.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Will you give me some change?
TIPURITA: Many of them are addicted to sniffing solvents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Marijuana (ILLEGIBLE). Marijuana. Booze. (ILLEGIBLE). This is out (ILLEGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Who's this gal? Madalina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE)
MADALINA: I've been 11 years on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): We are the glue sniffers. (ILLEGIBLE).
MADALINA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): This is our gang.
TIPURITA: These kids have many stories, of the foreigners who come here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): There are many pedophiles in Bucharest. Some are English, but (ILLEGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) are foreigners (ILLEGIBLE) poor two kids abroad.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you heard of girls that went abroad?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes. Italy, France, America and Spain.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Would you go?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes. I would go.
TIPURITA: They say the foreigners come at night to pick them up in cars and take them away for sex.
The cruising area is above ground, just off University Square.
My friend, Laurentiu, is there most nights, desperate for money. I'm about to see for myself how the pedophiles operate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TIPURITA: Romania is desperately poor. Its economy collapsed with communism. And now, nearly half of its people live on less than $4 a day.
Children have been forced onto the streets and into the sex trade to make money to survive.
Georgette Mulheir runs an agency called Hope and Homes, working with Romanian children. She says that sex trafficking is a big problem in Eastern Europe.
GEORGETTE MULHEIR, HOPE & HOMES FOR CHILDREN: There's somewhere around, I don't know, around the 250,000, 300,000 per year mark. That's a huge figure. We know it's a huge figure.
And within that figure, it's probably, certainly from our experience and the experience of other organizations who work within Romania, that about one-third of those who are trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation are children.
We do know, and we can see from working on the ground, that the numbers of children being trafficked is increasing, and I feel it's increasing rapidly.
TIPURITA: It is a grim situation.
Tonight, I'm keeping a watch on the square, where my friend, 15- year-old Laurentiu, gets picked up by foreigners.
Laurentiu turns up. A few minutes later, a man in a yellow jacket walks towards him. They talk. He takes him to his car. It looks like Laurentiu is going to get in. Then, the man drives off. The arrangement has been made.
Laurentiu goes back. A few minutes later, another car stops. Laurentiu runs over. This one picks him up.
An hour later, he comes back.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What did he do to you?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): He wanted me to wank him and to do it between my buttocks. I said it hurts and I don't want to. And he said, OK, wank me.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): How did he know about you?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): From his friend. He told him that I would be in the square.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): So, they all know each other?
LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes.
TIPURITA: The next day, I find him with a friend, sniffing solvent. LAURENTIU (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I want (ILLEGIBLE). Come down. The sun is angry and it's not good.
TIPURITA: His life is killing him.
A few days later, I treat the children to a film - "Harry Potter." Laurentiu's 12-year-old cousin, Koreem (ph) , turns up. I've been told that he, too, has been molested by a foreigner.
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I liked "Harry Potter." He's not afraid.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) afraid?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): A little.
TIPURITA: Koreem (ph) agrees to tell me his story.
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): It was me and another boy. He said, "Let's go (ILLEGIBLE). (ILLEGIBLE) foreigner (ILLEGIBLE) give me money. We went and entered the (ILLEGIBLE) of flats and went to the second floor.
When the foreigner opened the door, he brushed the other boy away. I didn't have time to run and he caught me. When the police came that evening, the (ILLEGIBLE) grabbed me and threw me from a second floor window.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Who threw you from the second floor?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): A German foreigner.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What happened when he threw you out?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Look here.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you got a scar because of it?
KOREEM (ph) (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes. I broke my head.
TIPURITA: The memory has made Koreem (ph) physically sick.
Word has gone around University Square that I'm trying to find out who the foreign pedophiles are.
One day there's a new face among the gang. He's called George. I've been told he knows Tom, the Englishman. Surprisingly, George speaks English.
TIPURITA: How come that you have such good English?
GEORGE: I learned a lot with Tom.
TIPURITA: But, who is Tom. GEORGE: Tom is a gay guy. I met him two years ago. I lived with him for five, six months. Made a gay site, make money off of it.
TIPURITA: What's on this site?
GEORGE: Pictures. Pictures with young boys, naked, jerking. He took pictures of me also.
TIPURITA: George says Tom picked him up two years ago, when he was 17, and paid him for sex. He says Tom runs tours for Westerners who come to Romania to have sex with boys, advertised on his Internet site.
GEORGE: I think Tom sends them pictures. OK, for this day you can have these boys. For the next day, you can have these boys. If (ph) you come here one week, you can have a different boy every day.
TIPURITA: You're absolutely sure that he's British.
GEORGE: I'm absolutely turn (ph) 100 percent sure. That's why it's going so successful.
TIPURITA: So, what's his surname?
GEORGE: Tom Peters.
TIPURITA: George has the address of Tom's Internet site. But he's never seen it himself, because it costs money.
It has hundreds of pornographic photos of a number of Romanian boys, including George.
This is the first time you see yourself.
GEORGE: Yes.
TIPURITA: How do you feel?
GEORGE: Not so nice.
TIPURITA: It's a crime to deal in pornographic pictures of under 18s. But despite the site's claims, George says many of the boys are under 18.
GEORGE: Here in this picture, he was not - he was not even 16, maybe not even 15.
TIPURITA: How do you know these guys?
GEORGE: From Tom, from that time when I lived with Tom, I told you, every day, every day, boys come and go, come and go.
TIPURITA: Well, did Tom have sex with all of them?
GEORGE: Every one of them.
TIPURITA: Underneath George's photo is an offer. Members of the site can e-mail for special services. It includes meeting the models.
I e-mailed Tom, pretending to be a Westerner. I'm hoping he'll invite me on one of his sex tours.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TIPURITA: By now, I've spent weeks with Laurentiu and his gang. They told me many stories of child sex trafficking.
Lots of kids are being taken abroad, not just by foreigners, but by Romanians.
Christina is 18 now. She says that when she was 14, she was trafficked to Italy.
CHRISTINA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): We used to go to the traffic lights. We'd wear a (ILLEGIBLE) and show them our thighs. They used to stop and get us into their cars, saying, "Do you want to come around to my house?" There were two other girls who were minors like me.
TIPURITA: Christina's friends were promised proper jobs in Italy. But when they arrived, they were forced into prostitution. This is one way to move children into the sex trade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): There were many girls who (ILLEGIBLE) who were 15, 16 years old. If (ILLEGIBLE), saying, "If you don't do it now, (ILLEGIBLE)." And the girls stayed out of fear.
TIPURITA: I decided to pursue the traffickers to the West, along the route so many of them take. I head to Italy.
Milan is the richest city in Italy. The center is full of Romanians. Local charities say child prostitution goes on here, but it can't tell me where.
Over the years, I've investigated many stories of sex trafficking. But I had no idea what I was about to find out.
The city at night is full of prostitutes.
On one of the main roads in Milan, a girl is working next to a bus shelter. She looks no older than 15. I speak to her in my language to see if she's Romanian, too.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I want to talk to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What?
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I want to talk to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): There's nothing we need to talk about.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I'm going to pay you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): OK. But we'll go to my parking place. What do you want to talk about?
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE). Where's your parking place?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Drive on.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you talked to small kids? Are they prostituted in this area?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): No, not in this area. They have their own area, where only the gays go.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Where is the area?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I don't know. Don't ask me. But, yes, there are people who prostitute kids.
TIPURITA: She says there's a camp full of Romanians in the city. I should ask there.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): How do you feel doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I thought I was coming for something else.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): So they told you something else? What did they say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Bar work.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): A bar job. And when you got here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): The bar is gone. It's bankrupt. Blah, blah, blah. The owner doesn't want to.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): What did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): I said, I don't want to do this. But what could I have done? Will you take me back now?
TIPURITA: The camp she told me about is near a cemetery called the cemetery maggiore. At the camp I use a hidden camera and a cover story. I'm pretending to look for a boy who has disappeared from Bucharest and been trafficked abroad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Have you seen the boy?
TIPURITA: The men all say there's no underage prostitution in the area. But as I walk out, I meet some children.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE) prostitution?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE). Search on the street. TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): In the evening?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): The evening.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Children?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): Yes, children, 12, 13 and 14 years old.
TIPURITA (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ENGLISH SUBTITLES): (ILLEGIBLE). Yes, they walk up and down.
TIPURITA: I'm coming back here after dark to see if children really are being sold for sex.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I'm on the road where I've been told children are being prostituted. Men line the curb. There in the headlights are three boys. The ones on the wall are about 13. The older one is flashing his penis. He's gesturing me to stop.
Just next to the cemetery, there is a car park. Lots of cars are circling around. Inside, male prostitutes are bargaining with the drivers. In the middle of it all, a young boys on bicycles.
I spot a man and a boy standing together. The man hurries off. I drive up to the boy. I pretend to be a westerner, and talk in frigid (ph) Italian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Money?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An hour?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy, this guy says he will pay 40 euros for an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk to my father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening boss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am the father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a month ago my child went with a Moroccan. He took the child, and he paid me forty. He gave him sleeping pills. The child...Since then I have lost my trust. Understand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen. We need to eat, understand? We are Romanians. We need to eat, we need cigarettes...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's your son?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's my son, but it's not a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 30 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 30 minutes? How much?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pay him 40.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to give it to you in the ass, and the mouth. But your not going to give it to him. Understand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, 40.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey boss, I'm going to take your number. Understand? Any problem with you...understand? He's my son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: In all the years I have investigated sexual exploitation, I never thought I'd find a man prostituting his own son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When did you start?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Working?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For sex.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, but we need the money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the day, he has to earn money by begging.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please lady give me money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Millan (ph), by the cathedral. Yes, the cathedral.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I've arranged for someone to ring me. It gives me an excuse not to have sex with the boy. On the way back, he tells me about the time he spotted (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Moroccan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You finished?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: The father asked for a cigarette. And we start chatting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Have you worked in Romania in sex?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No no. Because
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you're married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am married.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your wife? Does she know about Alin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? What do you say to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He begs, he works.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your son? Does he like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't asked him to honest. Do you understand? I haven't asked him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: He shows me his son's identity card issued by a local charity. It shows his real name, and his birth date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: And this was when he was born? 23rd of the 10, '88?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just 14.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I want to know if there are other families pimping their children. I drive around the cemetery Nijora (ph). Night after night. I see more boys being pimped. One night, I'm offered a boy who looks about 10. He's with a gang of men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me money for food boss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do it with him now? Give me 30 euros.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will go for a ride with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can do it with him. He is my brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your brother?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy suddenly seems afraid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is afraid to go alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then the gang runs off. A police car is right behind me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: But they are not interested in the pimps. They are just looking for illegal immigrants.
In all the time I've spent at Nijora (ph), all the boys I've met here, say they've been pimped by their own families. I've been to see a local agency that deals with underage prostitution. They can only help kids who want to be helped.
And the truth is, none of the children I have met have said they want to leave their families. There are many reasons parents may do this to their own children.
GEORGETTE MULHEIR, HOPE AND HOMES FOR CHILDREN: Many of the children who have been trafficked from Romania unfortunately are trafficked with the blessing of their parents. Some of them are sold by their parents.
Whether those parents are necessarily aware of the fact their children are going to be sexually exploited is another issue. It is very hard to understand. But it's in a country where society has been brutalized for 50-60 years of dictatorship.
And is then bombarded with images of the American dream. Of riches as well. And where the legal structures are perhaps -- some of the judicial structures are not in place necessarily to deal as adequately as they should with problems of trafficking.
You put it all together, and you have a recipe for disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: But now, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from Romania. I've had a reply from the web site that offers sex tours (ph). The e-mail says; "Selected clients can meet the boys pictured on the site for a price."
It's signed T.P. It must be Tom Peters, the Englishman. I'm getting closer to the man I've been hunting. I arranged to meet him next week in Bucharest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: By now, it's high summer in Romania. The main train station in Bucharest is where Tom has arranged to meet us. I can't pose as a client on Tom's sex holiday, because he's expecting a Westerner.
So my English colleague Andrew goes instead. Andrew is wearing a hidden camera. And I'm filming secretly behind him.
The man turns up with a teenage boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must be the man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wondered where you were.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: England, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 16.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's my friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom reveals how he first came here. As a Cherokee (ph) worker, in an orphanage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember at these orphanages with all these kids in a really bad way. I met this Romanian boy in this village. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: He gets down to business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many boys do you want to come tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is cheap. It would cost you like four times more in England. Technically, it's not legal if you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for money. Money is not legal. If you give them money that's prostitution. So you give them presents. They are your friend, and you give them presents.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: UNIDENTIFIED MALE:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But to sleep with he's just a dream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) smooth, and oh my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom invites Andrew to his apartment to see photographs of the boys he can buy for the night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is how the poor people live. Let me show you some beauties. So many f***ing boys (UNINTELLIGIBLE) .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tattoos at the age 16.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am the biggest slut in Bucharest. This is a dream, believe me. He is 16 three days ago. The body is just shew! And three days ago I had his brother.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I'm meeting up with (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He is the boy who says he lived with the English pimp, Tom, at the age of 17.
How many boys has he had sex with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot. From what I know. Hundreds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: What kind of boys does Tom like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Young looking, innocent looking, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) then he goes crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: How does he get these boys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the money. He offer money to everybody he (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to get the boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you find boys for (ph) him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says, Tom paid him for sex. And used him and others to recruit more boys into the sex trade. Tonight, Andrew is being supplied with a boy from Tom's web site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, how are you? I'm Andrew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are 16?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Over dinner, Tom opens up about his trafficking operation. He says Florene (ph) is being sent abroad to some of his rich Western clients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom describes some of his Western clients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have two German friends, one's this German guy. The other guy, is a f***ing judge!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a what?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: A judge!
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Seriously?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surprising what you meet sometimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Andrew is expected to take Florene (ph) back to his apartment for sex.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SO how did you meet Tom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years. Me I have 14.
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: When you meet Tom, 14?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you had sex at 14?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sex Tom, 14, you? Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Andrew tries to find out how Florene (ph) will be trafficked to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Germany. Romanian children can't travel abroad without their parents consent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you have passport, ticket?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has helped (ph) Mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pay your Mother?
UNIDENTIFIED PARTICIPANT: Yes. Give money for everything. For heat for everything, you understand? Because not have much money, Mother. Mother no work. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) help much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet your Mother?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: I can't know what that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) told Florene's (ph) parents when they met. But they agree to sign an important legal document that would allow him to travel abroad without them.
Andrew pays Florene (ph), and makes an excuse not to have sex. But Andrew's last meeting with Tom, Tom is worried. He heard the police are asking questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told you that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) cop just picked me up, and said come with me. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom says he's been in trouble before. And has always bribed his way out. Romanian officials seem to have little awareness of the problem.
When I was making this film, I have personally met dozens of underage boys who were offered for sex in Western countries. Countries like Italy or France. Does this shock you?
JON GABRIEL SOTTRESCU, ROMANIAN DIRECTORATE FOR COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME: As I told you before, I could accept, I can accept the idea of some children becoming victims of sexual exploitation, but just in very isolated (ph) cases, and not as a trade itself, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Are the Romanian current laws against (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sex trades strong enough?
SOTTRESCU: I don't know how to settle this moral dispute. We cannot speak about child sex trade, because we don't have such a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom says, he's going to leave Romania.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andrew has already spent about 250 pounds on Tom and his boys. Now, they agree on a final price.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much. I'm a man who pays his debts. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Andrew says good-bye. A week later, Tom left Romania.
I go to find my friend, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the street child who first told me about Tom. He's now making small amounts of money dealing in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) solvent (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Now (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hasn't come back for him. He still wants to be taken abroad by someone. In the meantime, he is selling himself to other foreigners.
Now in summer, there are even more sex stories here. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) points one out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Tom Peters is gone from Romania. But nothing here has changed. Pedophiles (ph) and traffickers still do their work. Children are still for sale in University (ph) Square.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN PRESENTS: The Romanian government says it's cracking down on human trafficking of all kinds. And it points to a tough new law passed late in 2001, and a number of convictions in the past year.
And in it's latest report on human trafficking worldwide, U.S. State Department praises some of the steps taken by the Romanians, but says they still need to do more.
And as for Tom, he has returned now to England, where he is already a registered sex offender. And as a result of this film, authorities have used a court order to increase the restrictions on him.
That's it for this edition of CNN PRESENTS. I'm Aaron Brown; we'll see you next week.
END
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