LV man sentenced to 10 years in Internet sex case

Friday, June 25, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

A 37 year-old Las Vegas man on Thursday was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison on charges he used the Internet to lure a 16-year-old to a hotel room to have sex.

Philip Ardoin was convicted of using technology to lure children and also three counts of using a minor in producing pornography, for which he received 30 days probation to run concurrently with his prison time.

Additionally Ardoin will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Deputy District Attorney James Sweetin said District Judge Stewart Bell "clearly sent a message that law enforcement is not going to allow men and adults to lure children into having sex over the computer or otherwise. This man (Ardoin) used his experience as an older man to suck this victim in to doing what he wanted with them, and he will now pay the price for that."

Sweetin said Ardoin met the victim on the Internet when she was 15. He regularly sent e-mail to her, and that correspondence led to phone conversations. Sweetin said eventually Ardoin arranged to go to South Carolina to visit her and discussed finding a hotel room in the area, Sweetin said.

Ardoin flew to South Carolina, checked into a remote hotel room, arranged for the girl to sneak out of her house and allegedly had sex with her multiple times over the course of several days. He wasn't caught until a maid reported to the owner of the hotel that she suspected a child was being abused in the room.

Ardoin's attorney, Jonathan MacArthur, said the charges against his client were an example of the district attorney's office overcharging Ardoin. MacArthur said his client didn't violate any law because the girl was 16 years old, and the legal age for consensual sex in both Nevada and South Carolina is 16.

The parents of the girl were upset the South Carolina authorities didn't charge Ardoin, after deciding he hadn't violated any statutes, MacArthur said.

"This case is my greatest disappointment as a defense attorney in my four years as one," MacArthur said. "It has undermined my confidence in the jury system and my abilities as a defense attorney and communicator. While the actions of my client might have been offensive and immoral, they were not illegal. The jurors couldn't get past that though."

MacArthur said the Clark County district attorney's office used creative measures to overcharge Ardoin.

"What the state wanted to do was prosecute him (Ardoin) for having sex with a minor, or lewdness with a minor, but they couldn't so they picked a law they thought they could use," MacArthur said.

"They charged him with use of technology to lure a minor. The thing is he (Ardoin) never told the girl to meet him while online, but instead he did so when he was on the phone in South Carolina. The statute said it must be done over the Internet, and he used a phone."

Sweetin said MacArthur's contention that Ardoin was overcharged is wrong.

"The jury ... felt there was sufficient evidence to convict him (Ardoin) on the charges," Sweetin said.

Sweetin said this wasn't the only time Ardoin has used the Internet to successfully lure a child into having sex with him. Sweetin said during the course of the investigation authorities discovered Ardoin met a 15-year-old Australian girl online and flew overseas to have sex with her.

Sweetin said no charges would be filed in the case of the Australian girl because the maximum sentence issued by Bell "serves justice for both victims."