A French man who worked as a teacher in Singapore was arrested on Monday in Bangkok for allegedly paying teenage boys to have sex with him.
Quenot Jean-Christophe Marie Georges, a 51-year-old French citizen, was nabbed in a hotel room in Bangkok’s Soi Inthamara 47, The Nation reported. In a press conference held on Wednesday, Metropolitan Police commander Maj-Gen Senit Samrarnsamruajkit revealed that the man is accused of picking up boys aged 13 to 15 at the Huay Kwan Stadium to have sex with him.
Police learned from the suspect that he had befriended teenage boys at the stadium by offering to teach them English and football for over a year. According to the police, their relationship went into deviant territory — Quenot would invite the boys to have sex with him for cash and would record the encounter. He would offer them between 800 to 1,000 baht (S$35 to S$43).
Suspicions were first aroused when the police were notified that teenagers at the stadium had an unusual amount of cash because they were “going out with a foreigner”, The Nation reported.
After a father complained that his teenage son had gone missing, the police managed to trace him down to Quenot’s hotel.
The bust
On Monday, the cops busted in the Frenchman’s hotel room, where they allegedly caught him with two 14-year-old boys. The missing teen, however, was not found with him.
Maj-Gen Senit said that officers seized a laptop, a memory card, two hard disks, a camcorder, a camera and a mobile phone at the scene. Among Quenot’s possession: 36 condoms and eight packs of Kamagra oral jelly, a cheaper alternative to Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction.
A tripod had been set up in the room, while his computer had pornographic films for him to watch with the boys.
Police also found a video of Quenot having sex with a teenage boy. He admitted to recording the videos but insisted that it was for his own viewing.
The Frenchman has since been charged for raping children as well as “taking away” minors under 15 from their parents and guardians.
The MOE connection
According to Maj-Gen Senit, Quenot told the police that he taught French in Singapore. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has since confirmed that the man is a teacher in the French department at the MOE Language Centre.
“We are doing internal checks, and note that this matter is being investigated by the Thai authorities,” MOE said in response to queries by The Straits Times.
Quenot’s name has since been removed from the list of staff members on the MOE Language Centre’s website. It remains unclear exactly when Quenot started teaching in Singapore, but the man had taught students at the MOE Language Centre’s Bishan campus as far back as 2008.
One netizen who claims to have been taught by the Frenchman in secondary school was shocked by the news but attested to his role as a teacher.
Thai police found that he had entered the country 10 times before his arrest, and that he stayed in the same hotel in the Huai Khwang District for around five days in each visit.
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