The Australian man arrested in the US after attempting to pay for sex with a six-year-old boy has been sentenced to 12 years.
Michael Quinn, 33, was on a rugby tour with his team, the Melbourne Chargers, when he was caught by undercover police who had been communicating with him for several weeks after seeing him post on a known pedophile site.
“Aussie perv, heading to the US late May/June interested to meet others while I’m there. LA, Nashville, NYC,” Quinn posted before the trip.
The former IVF geneticist reportedly had tears in his eyes as he begged the judge for leniency, reports ABC.
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“If you give me a second chance I won’t let you down,” he said to US District Court judge, John Walter.
“It upsets me so much that I could be capable of harming a child,” he added.
His lawyer, Lisa Shinar LaBarre, also argued during the trial that a severe addiction to methamphetamine had affected his judgement.
The judge however was not convinced, and sentenced him to 12 years, describing his desire to attend what he believed to be a “pedophile party” and pay money to rape a child as “absolutely disgusting”, “ghastly” and “despicable”.
“The defendant had every intention of raping a boy,” the judge said.
