American Convicted in U.S. Court After Serving 9-Year Sentence in Nepal for Abusing 8 Children

A Collinsville, Illinois, man who served a nine-year prison sentence in Nepal for child sexual abuse has now been convicted in U.S. federal court for the same conduct, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and Nepalese police. Kenneth Joseph Coombs, 58, pleaded guilty in federal court to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors in Nepal. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 28.

The U.S. Department of Justice stated that Coombs traveled from the United States to Nepal in August 2016 and sexually abused eight children while staying at a hotel between August and September of that year. Prosecutors said he used force, involuntary intoxication, and money to carry out the abuse. Investigators later recovered photos from his electronic devices showing some of the sexually explicit conduct he directed.

Nepalese police said the case began after investigators received information that an organized syndicate was trafficking children from remote villages to cities, offering them to foreign child sex offenders. Acting on that tip, Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested Coombs and a 21-year-old Kathmandu man, Buddha Putwar (known as “Luchche”), at the Yambu Hotel in Thamel in September 2016.

According to Nepali court records, the Kathmandu District Court sentenced Coombs to nine years in prison and Putwar to four years in an April 2017 ruling. Police in Nepal previously noted that Coombs had arrived in Kathmandu on Aug. 23, 2016, and five children were rescued from his hotel room during his arrest.

After serving his sentence, Coombs was deported from Nepal to the United States. He was subsequently arrested by U.S. law enforcement in September 2025 and has remained in custody since.

Federal prosecutors noted that Coombs had a prior qualifying sex offense conviction in Missouri and was required to register as a sex offender when he committed the offenses in Nepal.

The Justice Department stated that the case was investigated by FBI Springfield with substantial assistance from Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau, the U.S. Embassy in Nepal, the Kathmandu District Attorney’s Office, and the Nepalese nonprofit Naya Paila. The prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative focused on combating child sexual exploitation and abuse.