(BOISE, Idaho) -- A former Eagle, Idaho resident was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 96 months in prison on child sexual exploitation charges.
Gerald Lee Farrell Jr., 47, faced charges of interstate travel with a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, as well as possessing sexually explicit images of minors.
Farrell and his wife became a host family for a 16-year-old German female exchange student in August 2003, and through the fall, he observed the teen in the nude and had sexual conversations with her, according to the plea agreement.
Farrell installed hidden cameras in her bedroom and a bathroom she used, taking video of her changing clothes and coming in and out of the shower. He took the teen on a trip to Nevada in December 2003, during which she woke up one evening to find Farrell lying across her stomach and trying to remove her underwear.
The teen notified others of the incident upon their return to Idaho. When Ada County Sheriff's Office deputies seized Farrell's computers and other items. Then he and his wife fled for Switzerland shortly after.
Officials found videos on his computer depicting children under 18 engaging in "sexually explicit conduct," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Farrell was arrested in Spain in July 2013.
“This defendant preyed upon a vulnerable foreign exchange student, new to this country, who did not speak English as her first language,” U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson said. “The sentence imposed by this Court, some ten years after Mr. Farrell committed his crimes and fled Idaho for Switzerland, should send a clear message that perpetrators of these crimes cannot run and cannot hide. They will be caught, prosecuted and punished."
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