OKLAHOMA CITY – A former U.S. bail bondsman accused of traveling to Peru and having sex with underage girls has been sentenced to five years in prison.
The Oklahoman reports 63-year-old Robert Earl Pierce was also fined US$17,500 and will have to register as a sex offender.
Pierce told the judge during Monday’s hearing that he’ll bear shame and humiliation for the rest of his life.
Pierce pleaded guilty last year to engaging in an illicit sex act with an underage girl in Peru in 2012. Prosecutors say the investigation revealed three victims, two of whom were 15 at the time.
Pierce was shown leniency after cooperating in the prosecution of his friend, former attorney Michael Dean Billings, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Records show the men made trips to Iquitos, a poverty-stricken city the FBI says is a known child sex-tourism site.
