Prosecutors: Man adopted child in Romania for sex abuse

Prosecutors: Man adopted child in Romania for sex abuse

December 1, 2004
by Tim King,

Salem-News.com SALEM, Ore. - A Marion County man charged with a number of child sex crimes appeared in a Marion County courtroom for his arraignment Tuesday.

Prosecutors say 37-year old William D. Peckenpaugh travelled to Romania to adopt a boy, then brought him back to the U.S., only to be be plunged into a life of child pornography.

The Romanian boy's tragic journey from an East European orphanage, to a life of sex abuse in Marion County, is "off the charts" according to Darin Tweedt of the Marion County D.A.'s Office.

He says he has seen it all during his time as a prosecutor, but the sadness of this particular case, in which a young boy goes from a Romanian orphanage to an American foster home, is very unusual.

Peckenpaugh is charged with six counts of First-Degree Sodomy, two counts of Sex Abuse, and one count of Using a Child for the Purpose of Sexual Display.