An Australian man arrested for attempting to rape a six-year-old boy at a paedophile party while on on a rugby union trip in the US has been sentenced to 12 years in jail by a Los Angeles judge.

Michael Quinn, 33, an IVF geneticist from Melbourne, was caught in May in LA in a sting set up by US authorities who posed as paedophiles and a pimp offering to supply him with a six-year-old boy to rape for $US250 ($A330).



Quinn, who played for the Melbourne Chargers, wept throughout his sentencing and claimed it was the first time he had attempted to prey on a child. “If you give me a second chance I won’t let you down,” he told US district court judge John Walter. Quinn’s lawyer had asked for 10 years.

Walter sentenced Quinn to the term prosecutors had asked for. The veteran judge described Australian’s desire to attend what Quinn believed was a paedophile party at an LA hotel room and pay a pimp to allow him to rape a young boy as “absolutely disgusting”, “ghastly” and “despicable”.

The party was a sting set up by undercover US authorities who had been communicating with Quinn online for several weeks in Melbourne before he departed on a rugby trip to the US with some of his Chargers team-mates.



“Aussie perv, heading to the US late May/June interested to meet others while I’m there. LA, Nashville, NYC,” Quinn posted on a social media site used by paedophiles.



A US undercover agent saw the post and began communicating with Quinn. The geneticist told him of his wish to rape a boy and authorities set up the sting for when he arrived in LA in May.



Quinn claimed that he had never molested a child the sting was the first opportunity offered him.



His lawyer, Lisa Shinar LaBarre, said Quinn’s severe addiction to methamphetamine had altered his thinking and created psychotic thoughts. Quinn had also claimed to have been abused as a child.

The court heard that a psychologist who examined Quinn in jail concluded it was unlikely he would reoffend.



The judge said he was not “overly impressed” by the doctor’s report, noting that Quinn had not undergone standard testing for pedophilia.



“It upsets me so much that I could be capable of harming a child,” Quinn, dressed in a white prison jumpsuit, told the judge.



He also apologised to Australia for “damaging its reputation” and told the court: “I never want to put a child in danger again.”



Judge Walter said he did not “buy” the cause and effect of Quinn’s drug addiction and the abuse he suffered as a child. “The defendant had every intention of raping a boy,” the judge said.

The 33-year-old’s ankles were shackled. His parents, Anna and John, who had flown in from Australia, sat in the courtroom.