News Releases

Arizona man sentenced to 2 years for sex tourism following ICE investigation

PHOENIX - A federal judge sentenced a Morristown, Ariz., man to two years in prison today after he pleaded guilty to traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Richard Hendryx, 79, was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release following his prison term. He was arrested in May 2008 after travelling to Yuma, Ariz., and then on to the Mexican border in an attempt to have sex with two male children under the age of 11. He was arrested by ICE agents running an undercover operation targeting American child sex tourists traveling to Mexico.  

"My agents are aggressively pursuing child predators across the state of Arizona," said Matt Allen, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Arizona. "We want to make sure that men like Richard Hendryx are taken off of our streets and kept away from our children."

The undercover investigation that resulted in the charges against Hendryx is part of an ongoing ICE initiative known as Operation Predator.  As part of Operation Predator, ICE seeks to identify, investigate and arrest those who prey on children. Hendryx was prosecuted under a Department of Justice initiative, Project Safe Childhood, that marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet.

Suspected child exploitation or missing children may be reporter to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-822-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.