Scottish man jailed for 42 years after using Minecraft to groom boys on US holiday

A SCOT has been jailed for 42-and-a-half years after admitting preying on young boys while on holiday in the US.

A Police Scotland handout image of Jordan Kemlo.

Convicted paedophile Jordan Kemlo, 22, used the popular video game Minecraft to groom four American youngsters during a three month stay in the country.

Kemlo, of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, was jailed in Scotland for four years in 2015 after sexually assaulting a boy.

Last year he was flown to Tucson, Arizona, to face charges after the Scottish Government agreed to a request to extradite him.

The offences took place between February and May 2014 when Kemlo was 17 and visiting family in the region.

He was reported to police by the mother of one of his victims.

After Kemlo returned to Scotland, the boy told his mother he had been sexually abused by Kemlo several times while they were playing Minecraft.

Kemlo also preyed on three other boys in the same neighbourhood during his visit. All the victims were under 15.

Kemlo pleaded guilty last month to charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual conduct with a minor, attempted molestation of a child, solicitation to commit sexual conduct with a minor and attempted molestation of a child.

At Pima County Superior Court on Monday he was sentenced to 42-and-a-half years by Judge Jeffrey Bergin. He was also given a lifetime probation order.

His lawyer Katherine Daubert had asked the judge for leniency, saying Kemlo had shown remorse and had undergone treatment while in prison in Scotland.

Alan Goodwin, Special Victims Bureau Chief at the Pima County Attorney’s Office, confirmed the sentence.

He said: “The Pima County Superior Court sentenced Mr Kemlo to 42-and-a-half years in the Arizona Department of Corrections.”

US police officers said Kemlo first came to their attention when the boy’s mother called them.

She said that when Kemlo left Tucson to return home, her son began “acting out” but was reluctant to talk about what had happened because “he would be grounded for life”.

He told his mother he was attacked by Kemlo while they were playing Minecraft, and that the abuse had happened “every day or once a week”.

Kemlo was flown to Arizona with federal officers from the US Marshals Service in February last year following an extradition hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

At the time, a Scottish Government spokesman said: “The US sought Mr Kemlo’s extradition and, following careful consideration, ministers agreed his extradition on January 31.”

He was held in custody at Pima County jail in Tucson for more than a year before his case came to court.

Kemlo had originally faced 10 charges related to child sex abuse but pleaded guilty to five. He is understood to have confessed to the crimes when interviewed by officers from Arizona.

Kemlo was represented in court by a public defender after being unable to afford to hire a lawyer of his own.

In 2015, the High Court in Glasgow heard how Kemlo’s young victim, who was only six when the abuse started, described him as “the bad boy”.

Kemlo was arrested after abusing the boy at his own home and at his victim’s house. The abuse had lasted for three years.

After his arrest, Kemlo told police: “I never thought of the consequences. I was shocked, confused why it happened.” He later claimed he had decided to turn himself in but was too ashamed to do so.

Lord Burns ordered Kemlo to be supervised for five years following his release from custody.