American paedophile arrested in Chiang Mai

2009 July 9

CMM reporters
At 4 p.m on July 1 at Chiang’s Provincial Police Region 5 headquarters, Pol.Lt.Col. Apichart Haptasin announced that US citizen, Robert Ward Cutler, 37, had been arrested on charges of paedophilia involving at least 5 young boys under the age of 15 years, the most recent victim being 13 years old.
Robert Ward Cutler, an American citizen who had been working as a guest lecturer and researcher in Chiang Mai, shown being questioned by police after his arrest for sexual abuse of underage boys.

At the time of his arrest, the accused was working as a guest lecturer and researcher at a university in Chiang Mai. Previously, Cutler, a Fulbright scholar, had taught at Bard College in New York. A search of the his rented house in Muang district resulted in the seizure of a laptop computer, boxes of pornographic CDs and sex toys for use during anal intercourse.

Police were initially alerted to Cutler’s identity, place of work and crimes by the Australian police in Thailand, and subsequently contacted the Foundation of Child Development. Cooperation then took place between Region 5’s Office of Protection against Transnational Crime and other relevant organisations, including Rights of the Child in America and Australia, which resulted in Cutler’s interrogation and subsequent arrest.

Settling into our new home...

Just like our last blog stated "Rachel and Nathan Graeser are heading to Thailand for 9 months." Well, here we are! We spent a restful romantic week on a southern tropical island of Thailand... Koh Tao. Now we are settled into Chiang Mai for one month as we lead a trip of 11 volunteers from the US. (more on that later :)

At our wedding I was asked, "Do you think you'll be able to relax on your honeymoon in Thailand knowing what you know about that country?" I responded quickly with, "Well, the US has child prostitution and trafficking and I relax here just fine. Plus I have fallen in love with Thailand, so I'm sure we'll relax just fine."

I've come back to that question a few times since returning to Thailand. This is my fourth time here, and every time I return I find a hundred new reasons to love this country. Sure, there are a lot of things about Thailand that I would like to see change... the education system, racism against Burmese and Hilltribe people, ripping off foreigners because we (supposedly) have lots of $, an abundance of street children, sex tourism feeding the economy, and extreme poverty. However, it doesn't take long to notice that there is so much this country has to offer besides red light districts and injustice.

This trip to Thailand is different in so many ways... this time I have returned as a newlywed with my husband (who has never been here before!), this time I have a visa that allows me to stay for one year, this time I am here to work with and serve the people that SOLD has built relationships with over the past 2 years.

I am sure that it will be an adventure that allows me to fall in love with Thailand and the people of Thailand even more. I am also sure our time here will be purposeful, change will begin to occur in Cat's village (Village of Pazaang), and we will continue to see why prevention work is beneficial and so needed.

My husband, Nate, and I will be blogging as much as possible. So, please stay up to date via this blog and twitter (@thesoldproject).

Rachel and Nathan Graeser are headed to Thailand for 9 months... follow their's and The SOLD Project's journey here!

The next year for The SOLD Project is focused on developing our prevention program in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Our hope is to create a holistic prevention program to be able to replicate in other villages in Thailand. No child should ever have to experience a life of exploitation, so please join us as we work in developing the area of prevention of child sexual exploiation.

Become a part of the movement by:

1) Creating awareness about this issue through Facebook and Twitter
2) Consider joining our team of interns for the Fall of 2009
3) Hosting a screening of "The SOLD Project:Thailand" in your home or community by downloading our Party with a Purpose PDF with statistics, SOLD documentary information, and Thai recipes
4) Getting creative: need inspiration? Visit our Re:Act Page to see what others have done to help in the fight against child prostitution.

Chiang Mai!

We just arrived in Chiang Mai this morning. It's a breath of fresh air after leaving BKK.

Our time in the big city was good: we spent yesterday with Roy and Bonita Thompson of Home of New Beginnings in BKK. They work with women who have decided to leave the sex industry and offer them educational opportunities. While there are many organizations in BKK doing wonderful work in aftercare, we were especially drawn to Home of New Beginnings because they put such emphasis on the importance of education as well as local staff/leadership.

We spoke with Roy and Bonita about potential job opportunities for women that graduate with a high school diploma: waitressing, tourism opportunities, hotel work, etc. They put emphasis on the importance of learning english and graduating with a high GPA so that options for college were available. While their program is still too young to have stories of girls who have graduated
and gone in to the job field, their insights were affirming to our work in education as prevention.

More to come...

Thailand

Rachel and I are headed to Thailand on Tuesday, May 5 - May 20. Follow us on twitter @thesoldproject while we're traveling. We'll be bringing you updates from the ground on The SOLD Project Prevention Program and our partner organization VCDF.

See you there!