19 year old Thai faces 5 charges for pimping out 13 year old boy

Police arrested a 19 year old Thai man in Bangkok on Saturday night, on five charges of pimping out a 13 year old boy.

Patrol and Special Operation Division officers received a tip-off on January 13 that the teenager, 19 year old Peeraphat Bootcham, was procuring boys aged under 15 years old to provide sex services. Peeraphat advertised the services online and would take the boys to clients’ homes or hotels to provide the service, charging the customer 2,000 baht each time.

An officer posed as a customer and made an appointment with Peeraphat at a hotel on Soi Vibhawadee Rungsit 42 in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok on Saturday, January 13. Peeraphat was seen getting out of a taxi with a 13 year old boy and took 2,000 baht from the policeman in disguise.

Following the clear evidence, the officer arrested Peeraphat at the hotel and took him to a police station for questioning. Peeraphat admitted to his action and revealed that he charged customers 2,000 baht each time. He kept 1,000 baht for himself and gave another 1,000 to the underage prostitutes.

Peeraphat faces five charges including:

• Section 6 of the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act: seeking benefit from prostitution involving persons over 15 years of age but under 18 years of age. The penalty is six to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of 600,000 to 1.5 million baht.
• Section 9 of the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act: procuring, enticing or inducing a person over 15 years of age but under 18 years of age to engage in prostitution. The penalty is imprisonment for five to 15 years and a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 baht.
• Section 282 of the Criminal Law: procuring, luring, or taking away any person in order to satisfy the desire of others even if that person agrees. The penalty will be imprisonment from one to 10 years and a fine from 2,000 to 200,000 baht.
• Section 317 of the Criminal Law: taking children aged under 15 years old from their parents. The penalty will be imprisonment from three to 15 years and a fine from 6,000 to 30,000 baht.
• Section 26(5) of the Child Protection Act: forcing, threatening, inducing, encouraging, or allowing children to behave inappropriately or perform obscene acts. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of up to 30,000 baht, or both.

One of the boys used, a 13 year old, is now under the care of the Baan Poomvet shelter under the supervision of the Department of Children and Youth, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, after he was considered to be a victim of human trafficking.