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20 years for UC man who taped sex with boys in Thailand

A Union City man who used to play Santa Claus for the local kids was sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison today for traveling to Thailand to have and videotape sex with boys as young as 6.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot

Photo: Courtesy ICE

“Wayne Corliss is a determined sexual predator who traveled the world to engage in horrible conduct with helpless young victims,” said U.S. Attorney Paul J Fishman. “The length of the sentence will ensure –
as it should – that Corliss will never have the opportunity to prey on anyone else.”

If he’s still alive once he’s his term expires, Corliss would have to spend the rest of his life under supervision.

The horrific story story made international headlines in May or last year after INTERPOL, the international police agency, appealed for any information that could identify a man seen in photos sexually abusing boys — some as young as 6 years old — in Southeast Asia.

Within 48 hours, Special Agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office here in New Jersey and in Washington, D.C., were able to track down Corliss, a local theater actor, in Union City.

Last October, he admitted he’d committed the crimes in Thailand.

“In each, Corliss admitted that he traveled with the intent to sexually abuse children and paid for access to children for sex,” Fishman’s office said in a release. “Corliss also admitted sexually abusing children in 2002 in Thailand for the purpose of photographing and videotaping the activity.”

Corliss and two other U.S. sex tourists, Burgess Lee Burgess and Mitchell Kent Jackson, communicated with and were afforded sexual access to children in Thailand by John Wrenshall, federal authorities said.

Wrenshall was extradited from the United Kingdom in July and awaits trial here on sex tourism and child pornography charges.

Burgess, 45, and Jackson, 32, pleaded guilty on Nov. 13, 2008, in the Southern District of Alabama and were each sentenced last week to 78 months in prison.

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