IL Man Pleads Guilty To Sexual Conduct With A Minor Overseas: Authorities

COLLINSVILLE, IL — An Illinois man pleaded guilty last week to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in Nepal, according to authorities.

Kenneth Joseph Coombs, 58, of downstate Collinsville, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court, authorities said.

“Coombs’ conduct was predatory, deliberate, and devastating, and today’s guilty plea brings long‑overdue accountability for the children he harmed,” FBI Springfield Field Office Special Agent in Charge Ryan Presley said in a news release.

Coombs traveled from the U.S. to Nepal in August 2016 and sexually abused eight children while staying at a hotel in the country in August and September of that year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He used a combination of force, involuntary intoxication and payments to the children to commit the sex acts, authorities said.

Coombs also took photos of some of the children engaged in the sexually explicit conduct that he directed, according to the department, which added that the images were recovered from his electronic devices by law enforcement.

At the time he committed the offenses overseas, he was required to register as a sex offender due to a qualifying prior sex offense conviction in Missouri, authorities said.

He was arrested in September 2025, has been in custody since that time and is set to be sentenced in October, according to the department.