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Hersh has pleaded innocent to all charges and has challenged the sex-tourism law's constitutionality. Says his lawyer David Tucker: "It's a troubling statute because it criminalizes conduct which may not be illegal in other countries. If you're in France and driving under the influence of alcohol, do we have a right to prosecute you when you get home?" But even if Hersh wins on constitutional grounds, he faces charges of smuggling a minor into the country for sex, possession of child pornography and passport fraud.
FBI and U.S. customs agents say the case has uncovered an informal network of suspected pedophiles who share ways to avoid getting caught. In separate investigations, nine men have been taken into custody for intending to leave the U.S. for sex with minors. "It's always been a shadowy existence. We don't really know what we have yet because we're only getting into it," says Walter Deering, special agent in charge of the State Department's diplomatic-security service, which has investigated recent cases of child smuggling.
"These kids are a commodity--like a sack of potatoes," says Bruce Harris, executive director of a children's shelter in San Jose, Costa Rica. One doesn't have to go far to see his point. Down the street from the San Jose police headquarters, 10-year-old prostitutes await customers from the Holiday Inn.
--With reporting by Julia Powell, CNN/La Ceiba