Accused Child Sex Ring Boss Back in Cancun

A Los Angeles man accused of running a child sex ring in the popular resort town of Cancun has been extradited back to Cancun and will face trial in Mexico. Jean-Succar Kuri, a Mexican citizen who lived in Cancun was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Arizona two years ago on an international arrest warrant issued by Mexico police. Authorities say Kuri would lure poor children to a hotel he owned in Cancun, promising them a swim in the pool and then take them to a hotel room for sex. Kuri had fled the country after he was recorded on an undercover tape describing his delight in having sex with young girls. "It’s my vice," he is seen saying on tape. "My whole life I have slept with virgins." Lydia Cacho, a Mexican journalist and activist who investigated Kuri for a book on Cancun says Kuri "would take photos of them and send them to Los Angeles where they were posted on a website." Among those adults who participated in the child sex ring were Americans, says Cacho. "He would bring American tourists, to have sex with kids." From his jail cell, Kuri told ABC News that he denies being a pedophile and that the tape was faked. Kuri and his attorney maintain that any sexual relations he had with young girls was consensual and legal. One of the alleged victims has since recanted her testimony that she was raped by Kuri at 14. She now says the relationship was consensual. An Arizona federal court ruled last month that Kuri should be extradited. Kuri’s attorney did not appeal, and Kuri was transported back to Mexico late Saturday evening. Now the question is whether he will face justice in Mexico where the judicial system is known for corruption and where the legal sexual consent age, which is rarely enforced, is significantly lower than in the U.S. The case will be highly controversial and could actually cause more danger for Kuri’s alleged victims, says Cacho. "There will be more pressure on the girls and some of the mothers," she says. In interviews, Cacho says, the girls told her that Kuri "promised the girls two years ago that he would get revenge, and now they worry he might be able to." Kuri is currently in a jail in Cancun awaiting trial. He faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted.