From The Associated Press
5/4/2007 3:51:41 PM

ATLANTA (AP) — When he was arrested after getting off a flight at a New York airport in 2004, Gainesville anesthesiologist Gregory Kapordelis was charged with traveling to Russia to have sex with young boys.

The government used a relatively new law at the time that makes it possible for U.S. citizens who molest children abroad to be prosecuted for the crime in federal court at home.

Three years and four revised indictments later, Kapordelis heads to trial Monday no longer facing any molestation charges, the government having decided not to move forward on the Russian counts.

Instead, he is charged with downloading child pornography to a computer, using boys under the age of 18 to produce pornographic pictures and, in one case, making a video of himself having sex with a person under 18 — a person the government has been unable to identify or locate but says it has evidence of the person’s age at the time the video was made. The crimes are alleged to have occurred from 2001-2004.

While the sex tourism charges are out, Kapordelis’ alleged activities on foreign soil could very much be a part of his trial in Atlanta.

Kapordelis, who turned 46 Friday, wants to prevent the government from using some of that evidence at trial. A recent motion on the issue was not immediately ruled on.