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Rugh James Cline, a Florida attorney who spent two and half years in Cambodian prison for s*xually abusing four kids, was deported back to the US last month to face charges of exploiting minors overseas.
In a press release, US The Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida, said that Rugh James Cline, 40, was accused of traveling to Cambodia and abusing at least four girls under the age of 15 between February and May 2019.
Cline was busted after the Action Pour Les Enfants (APPLE), a non-governmental organization, encountered his victims while investigating suspected foreign pedophiles in Cambodia. The victims mentioned that a lawyer had paid them 120 each to s*xually abuse them.
Cline was then sentenced to 2.5 years in a Cambodian prison and ordered to pay a $200 fine and $3,750 in compensation to the four girls. Shortly after, in 2021, United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced that the disgraced Florida attorney was indicted with five counts of engaging in illicit s*xual conduct in a foreign place and one count of possessing child s*x abuse materials.
Cline was ordered back to the States to face the charges leveled against him after serving his prison term in Cambodia. In a statement, the U.S. The Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida, said that Cline made his initial appearance in federal court on June 7, 2023, where he pleaded not guilty to his charges.
On June 26, 2023, the accused child r**ist was released on a bond of $100,000 under the condition of home detention with GPS monitoring. Authorities wrote:
“Cline is also not allowed to have access to the internet or minors while on home detention.”
Rugh James Cline has been ineligible to practice law in Florida for nearly a decade
Rugh James Cline, a Westfield High School graduate, obtained his bachelor's degree in political science from Texas State University in 2005. Cline then went on to study law at the University of Miami School of Law in 2010 and was admitted to the Bar shortly after.
However, as per a report on Law&Crime, Cline was deemed ineligible to practice law in Florida for nearly a decade as he was delinquent on his fees. Florida Bar spokesperson Francine Walker told Law&Crime that Cline's ineligibility to practice law stemmed from his delinquent fees and had no bearing on the charges against him. Walker said that a separate investigation was underway after Cline was convicted of s*x crimes in Cambodia.
“His conviction in Cambodia resulted in a disciplinary file being opened by The Florida Bar and that investigation is still underway at the staff level (see this infographic on the grievance process in Florida) – it has not affected his status.”
Per his Linkedin, Rugh James Cline's last known employment was in Korte & Wortman, P.A., where he was hired as an attorney practicing from Clearwater, Florida, between 2010 to 2013.
According to authorities, if Cline is convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison for each count of engaging in illicit s*xual conduct in a foreign place and up to 20 years for possessing child s*x abuse materials.
