- Kenneth Joseph Coombs, 58, pleaded guilty to federal charges for sexually abusing children in Nepal during a 2016 trip.
- Prosecutors say Coombs used force, drugs, and payments to exploit victims while already a registered sex offender in Missouri.
- The plea agreement recommends an 11 to 25-year prison sentence, factoring in nine years Coombs previously served in Nepal.
- Coombs will also face lifetime supervised release and financial penalties for his predatory conduct involving multiple children under age 18.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — A Collinsville man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a child in Nepal, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois.
Kenneth Joseph Coombs, 58, admitted on Thursday to traveling to Nepal in August 2016, where court documents allege he sexually abused children and took illicit photographs of them. According to a news release issued following his guilty plea, prosecutors said Coombs used "a combination of force, involuntary intoxication, and payments to the children" to commit the offenses.
At the time of the crimes, Coombs was already required to register as a sex offender in Missouri due to a prior conviction, federal prosecutors stated.
Coombs was initially indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. Each charge involved a different victim under the age of 18 and stemmed from offenses committed between late August and mid-September 2016. Under a plea agreement filed Thursday, Coombs pleaded guilty to one count; the remaining charges will be dismissed at sentencing.
Coombs was arrested in the United States in September 2025 and has remained in custody since, prosecutors said.
Steven D. Weinhoeft, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, praised the efforts of the federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents involved in the investigation, noting that the case required extensive international cooperation.
"Coombs’ conduct was predatory, deliberate, and devastating, and today’s guilty plea brings long-overdue accountability for the children he harmed," Ryan Presley, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Springfield, Illinois, field office, said in a statement.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that Coombs’ sentence should fall between 11 and 25 years in prison. This recommended range accounts for the nine years he spent incarcerated in Nepal. He will also be subject to lifetime supervised release and financial penalties.
Coombs’ defense attorney, Robert Elovitz, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
