Philadelphia:
A federal judge has sentenced a wealthy New Jersey businessman to 25 years in prison on
charges he travelled to eastern Europe to molest minors in exchange for money and gifts.
Forty-five-year-old Anthony Mark Bianchi, of North Wildwood, New Jersey, was sentenced on Wednesday. He was convicted of having sex with or attempting to have sex with at least a half-dozen boys in Europe on trips from 2003 to 2005.
Several boys were brought to the federal court in Philadelphia from their isolated village in Moldova to testify against Bianchi during the three-week trial. He has been in prison since his arrest in January 2006.
Bianchi's defence lawyer has said the defence was crippled by the government's threat to have his Moldovan co-counsel charged with witness intimidation if he appeared in
Philadelphia to testify.