From Rights Action <[email protected]>
Subject Child pornography & sex tourism in Honduras
Date March 27, 2025 4:07 PM
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March 27, 2025


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Canadian and U.S. tourism in Honduras, cases of child pornography and sex crimes, past and present
“A network of child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other crimes”
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By Grahame Russell, March 27, 2025
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Below
* 2001 article: “[Randy Jorgensen], once known as the porn king of Canada, has been accused of making X-rated videos of children at his vacation home in Honduras”
* 2024 article: “Three Americans and a Honduran ordered detained … in a sex trafficking … [related to] the disappearance of a Honduran university student in 2022”
* 2025 article: “[U.S. citizen] Lee Johnston convicted of aggravated human trafficking in the form of sexual exploitation and crimes of production of child pornography…”

While this most gruesome side of “tourism” began decades ago, it multiplied and worsened during 13 years (2009-2022) of U.S. and Canadian support for military-backed, “open-for-global-business”, Narco-Regimes led by President Juan Orlando Hernandez and National Party, labelled “democratic allies” the entire time by the U.S. and Canadian governments and much of the North American media.

More Hondurans were forced to flee home and country during this violent, corrupt, impoverishing and theft time than any time in recent history, not that any government or mainstream media reports connected their forced flight to U.S. and Canadian government policies and corporate/investor sector interests with our “democratic allies” in power.

Since the early 2000s, and more recently in collaboration with Karen Spring and Honduras Solidarity Network, Rights Action has been sharing information about a range of violences and corruptions linked to the global (often-times Canadian and American) tourism industry.

One name that comes up often over the decades, is the Canadian “porn king” Randy Jorgensen. We have shred lots of information (our own, often that of others – particularly ORANENH) denouncing serious issues linked to Randy Jorgensen (and sometime his associates) related to allegations of land theft, corruption, violence, etc.

Since 1998, Rights Action has supported the courageous work and struggle of OFRANEH (Fraternal Organization of Black Hondurans) in defense of territory and land, human rights and the environment of Garifuna communities along the entire north Caribbean shore of Honduras.

It is this Caribbean shoreline and nearby islands – all traditional Garifuna lands and territory – that are coveted (oftentimes taken violently and corruptly) by global north tourism operators large and small.

The 2001 article is from The Winnipeg Free Press about how Randy Jorgensen was “accused of making X-rated videos of children at his vacation home in Honduras”. Rights Action is trying to locate the quite possibly sealed court records to understand what happened in that case.

The purpose of sending this 2001 article now is not to simply sling mud about possible crimes from over 20 years ago, but to show earlier examples of what has only increased and worsened since then – crimes related to child pornography, sexual exploitation and violence, often linked to or committed by U.S. and Canadian men.

The recent 2025 articles speak for themselves, and provide a small window into serious allegations of what appears to be “a network of child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other crimes”.

Grahame Russell
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

‘Porn king’ charged in Honduras
By Lindor Reynolds ([email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) ), November 22, 2001
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The man once known as the porn king of Canada has been accused of making X-rated videos of children at his vacation home in Honduras. The mild-mannered Englishman who spent two years chasing the tip that eventually led to the charges is elated.

Randy Jorgensen, owner of the national Adults Only Video chain, vehemently denies the allegations. Jorgensen, who became known to Winnipeggers in the early ’90s during a well-publicized trial on obscenity charges which were later withdrawn, says he’s the victim of a disgruntled former employee. “She’s being investigated for misappropriation of funds,” said Jorgensen from his Ontario office. “In Trujillo (Honduras) this is all being treated like a joke.”

It’s no joke to Bruce Harris, executive director of Casa Alianza, a Costa Rica-based organization that monitors the sexual exploitation of children. Two years ago, Harris says, he received a tip that young girls were being taken to one of Jorgensen’s two Honduran homes, given drugged drinks and either photographed or videotaped.

Jorgensen, who was shown the photos during questioning, denies they were taken at his house. Jorgensen points the finger at his former caretaker, saying she’s got a vendetta against him.

Harris says he’s convinced the right man has been accused. “We have known about this for some time but Honduran justice moves slowly,” says Harris. “A formal complaint has been made involving girls 14 to 18.”

Harris, in Winnipeg last year as a delegate to the War-Affected Children’s conference, says the charges are a victory for all children. “Too often these kids don’t have a voice. No one cares for them. They see someone with money and power and they are so easily impressed.”

One Canadian and two American men

Last month, Jorgensen was asked to appear before a judge in response to an arrest warrant. He did so voluntarily. He says two American men, whom he doesn’t know, have been charged. He denies facing anything more formal than questioning although documents from Trujillo clearly refer to his charges.

Harris says the formal charges of living off the avails of minors were laid Monday. Americans Mike Wyatt and Woody Abbott have been charged with the production and distribution of child pornography as well as the sexual abuse of children.

According to a transcript of an interview with prosecutors, Jorgensen was asked what sort of business he owns. “It’s like a warehouse that supplies stores with products people want to buy,” he says.

Pressed by the prosecutor, he says: “It’s merchandise for people over 21 years of age. Shampoo, hand oils, creams.”

The prosecutor pushes further, asking Jorgensen if he deals in pornography. Jorgensen replies that his company and pornography are legal in Canada.

Jorgensen says he’s owned a home in Trujillo for 10 years. He bought a large amount of jungle property and had it cleared and subdivided. He says he liked the small town because “it’s warm. I was looking for a vacation property in the Caribbean, not commercialized, not a place with a lot of tourism.” He says he gets along well with his neighbours, calling Trujillo “a wonderful place.”

Harris says Jorgensen could find himself unable to leave Honduras if he returns or he could face extradition from Canada. Jorgensen says he plans to return to his favorite sunspot later this month. “I’m not guilty of anything. I haven’t been charged with anything,” says the man who owns a $25-million adult entertainment empire.

Harris tells a different story. “It’s a first step. I wouldn’t say it’s a victory until we get a conviction on one or more of the accused.”

Honduras detains 3 Americans in sex trafficking probe
AFP, 26 April 2024
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Three Americans and a Honduran were ordered detained on Thursday in a sex trafficking case that shocked the country, following the disappearance of a university student in 2022 while jet-skiing in a popular tourist area.

“The judge has issued a formal indictment and the precautionary measure of preventive detention for (US citizens) Harold Joseph Green and William James Murdock,” spokeswoman Barbara Castillo of the court in Tegucigalpa told reporters.

The hearing also ordered the prosecution and preventive imprisonment of Gary Lee Johnston and Ramon Trejo for “association to commit a crime,” she added. All four were allegedly involved in the trafficking of a young woman, she said, and face a preliminary hearing on May 8.

Green, Murdock and Trejo were captured last week in Roatan in the Bay Islands of the Honduran Caribbean, and Lee had been detained since August 2022, accused of belonging to a child pornography gang.

A 22-year-old Honduran university student disappeared on January 1, 2022 after going out to sea aboard a jet ski.

Initially police claimed she had drowned, but family members demanded an investigation because they suspected she had been abducted.

The young woman’s jet ski, life jacket and other belongings were found days later on a cay.

Deputy Security Minister Julissa Villanueva said last week that authorities have information on “who has her and what happened around her abduction.”

The victim has not yet been found. The three Americans live in Honduras and have tourist investments in Roatan.

American convicted of human trafficking and child pornography in Honduras
SWI news, February 4, 2025 (Translated to english by Rights Action. Any translation errors are ours)
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U.S. citizen Lee Johnson has been convicted of human trafficking and child pornography in Honduras.

The ruling was issued unanimously by the Chamber I of the National Sentencing Court with National Competence in Environmental, Corruption and Organized Crime. The prison term to which Lee Johnston will be sentenced will be announced on February 19 at 13:30 local time (19:30 GMT), Carlos Silva, spokesperson for the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras, told reporters.

Lee Johnston, 68, was convicted of aggravated human trafficking in the form of sexual exploitation and three crimes of production of child pornography, and could face a sentence of between 22 and 33 years, he added.

Silva also pointed out that the appeals for annulment, presented by the defense of the American against the evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the raids carried out in August 2022 in his home and business in Roatan, were dismissed.

According to the Honduran Prosecutor's Office, the American was captured on August 29, 2022 in Roatán during a raid on his home, where he was found lying on a bed next to a 16-year-old girl, who had apparently been missing on the island for several days.

The Sentencing Court has recommended to the Honduran Prosecutor's Office to carry out an “exhaustive investigation” into the possible participation of other people in these crimes, according to testimonies collected, the judicial spokesman stated.

According to the indictment filed by the Prosecutor's Office, Lee Johnston is linked to a network of child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other crimes that has been operating since 2019.

Lee Johnston was also implicated in the disappearance of 22-year-old Honduran Angie Peña on January 1, 2022, after she left a Roatan beach accompanied by a sister on a jet ski.

According to brief versions from police sources, there are indications that Peña had been in a Lee Johnston's house in Roatan.

So far it is unknown what happened to Peña after she got separated from her sister, who was on another jet ski. EFE

Land & indigenous rights defense work of OFRANEH & Garifuna people against ethnocidal violence & land theft
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OFRANEH: @ofraneh / [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) / www.ofraneh.org / [link removed]
Honduras Now: [link removed]; [link removed]
Honduras Solidarity Network: www.hondurassolidarity.org; [link removed]

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