Seven NAMBLA Members Busted in Sex Sting
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Seven members of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (search), including two teachers, were arrested in Southern California and charged with allegedly planning to travel to Mexico to have sex with boys, authorities said.
An eighth man was charged with distributing child pornography, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Four men were arrested in Los Angeles and three in San Diego Saturday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They were charged Monday, following a sting operation in which each man allegedly paid hundreds of dollars to an undercover agent to arrange the sex, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (search) said during a news conference Monday.
During the investigation, the FBI set up a fake travel company that offered a trip to Mexico to meet boys for sex, Eimiller said.
The men had allegedly traveled from their homes to Southern California with the expectation of boarding a boat to Ensenada (search), where they were told sex with the boys was awaiting them at a bed-and-breakfast, Eimiller said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Through the undercover agent, she said, they requested that the boys be as young as 8 years old.
"This investigation exemplifies the FBI's commitment nationwide, and the commitment of our local, state and federal task force partners, to finding child predators within the United States and beyond our borders," Richard Garcia, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said in a statement.
Jeff Devore, 53, of Fullerton was arrested Saturday and charged with distributing child pornography as a result of the sting, Eimiller said. Devore, a minister at the Brea Congregational Church (search), in Orange County, was not accused of planning to go on the Mexico trip.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Devore, who is also a chiropractor, first met an undercover FBI agent at a North American Man/Boy Love Association meeting.
The association, which was formed in 1978 and advocates relationships with men and boys, was not charged in the case.
Devore was allowed to post bail but it was immediately unknown whether he had done so. A phone call to the church and a message left on Devore's answering machine seeking comment were not immediately returned.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The seven arrested included: Sam Lindblad, 56, of Albuquerque, N.M.; Gregory Mark Nusca, 43, of Dania Beach, Fla., also known as David R. Busby or Steven West; Steven K. Irvin, 46, of Pittsburgh, a special education teacher at Carrick High School (search); Richard Stutsman, 59, of Seneca, S.C., a substitute teacher for a school district in Oconee County; Phillip Todd Calvin, 43, of Dallas; David Cory Mayer, 49, of Chicago, a flight attendant; and Paul Ernest Zipszer, 39, of Deltona, Fla.