Australian rugby player Michael Quinn pleads guilty to US child sex charge

Australian rugby union player Michael Quinn has admitted in a US district court on Wednesday (20 July) to travelling to Los Angeles where he engaged himself in an illicit sexual conduct with a six-year-old boy.

The 33-year-old, also a scientist at a clinic in Melbourne, visited the US on 19 May and was arrested by undercover agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit, whom he thought paedophiles and pimp, at a Los Angeles hotel on 21 May.

Quinn will be sentenced on October 3 and the player could face up to 13 years in prison.

The Melbourne Chargers player was trapped when an undercover agent inspecting a social networking site serving online groups who "expressed their sexual interest in children" found him on the site by the name "Mick". He also found that the player was travelling from Australia to LA with his Chargers teammates.

So, in order to get more details, the agent started chatting with Quinn and discovered that he was "looking for sex with children" and while "he liked both boys and girls, his favourite were boys, aged 5-10". He also reportedly invited the undercover official for the "child sex party".

As expected on 21 May, Quinn visited the venue of the party and gave $250 (£188.79, €226.56) to have sex with a boy, but he got caught by the officials, who were present there in the guise of child traffickers.

"Mr Quinn travelled to the United States to have sex with a young child," US Attorney Eileen Decker said in the court.

"Fortunately, law enforcement was able to ensure that no child was put in harm's way and that Mr Quinn would face severe consequences for his conduct," he added.

Meanwhile, it was found that his teammates with whom he travelled to the US in May had no idea about his intentions.