Crime & Safety

Former Restaurant Owner Gets Probation for Photos of Nude Girl

The former owner of Arunothai in PawTuxet Village has been sentenced to three years of probation for posting pictures of a nude underage family member on the Internet.

The sentence was part of a plea deal after investigators agreed to amend the charges to not include child pornography because they believed that they lacked pornographic intent, according to the Providence Journal.

Arunothai Asawabowornan, was arrested in 2011 after investigators got a tip through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the video of a young girl.

Investigators tracked the video to Asawabowornan's computer. 

In court, Asawabowornan's lawyers argued the images were for family members back home in Thailand and weren't intended to be pornographic, nor would she post the the video publicly on YouTube if she thought they were criminal.

With the plea deal, Asawabowornan is not admitting to child pornography charges, which is what she was originally facing after he arrest. Instead, prosecutors amended the charges to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Read our original story here: Arunothai Owner Faces Child Pornography Charges




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