Moldovan minors might testify in US trial

The US Government plans to fly several minors from Moldova to Philadelphia to testify in a trial of a South Jersey millionaire, charged with traveling to Eastern Europe to have sex with minors, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reports, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Anthony Mark Bianchi was arrested in January 2006 and charged with flying to Romania, Cuba and Moldova to have sex with 13 boys ages 12 to 15. During the recent Moldovan trial of the alleged pimp/translator who helped Bianchi, several boys named in the US indictment testified. The millionaire’s lawyer said that records from Moldova show that at least four of the boys recanted their statements, two refused to testify, one disappeared, and one said his brush with Bianchi amounted to little more than a sleigh ride. At the same time, the pimp/translator was convicted and remains jailed in Moldova, serving a 20-year sentence, rendering him unavailable to testify in person in Philadelphia. The 43-year-old Bianchi is one of about a dozen Americans who have been charged by the federal agency under a 2003 law that makes it a crime to travel overseas to have sex with minors, officials said. If convicted he faces a prison term of five to 20 years..