BENEATH A RANTING ELMO’S MASK, A MAN WITH A DISTURBING PAST

The New York Times/Michael Wilson
6/27/12
Adam Sandler, the 48 year old man from Ashland, Oregon in the red Elmo costume, was back towork in Central Park on Tuesday, but was handcuffed by the police and escorted from the park onSunday after he was heard and videotaped shouting anti-Semitic remarks outside the the Central ParkZoo.  He was not arrested but he is troubled.  He said he has a bachelor's degree fromthe University of Oregon, which the university confirmed.  He later traveled to Cambodia andstarted a pornographic Web site called Welcome to the Rape Camp.  Sandler was arrested andquickly deported.  He insisted the women on the site were not harmed and were paid $20 perperformance.  The site was the subject of an article in 2000 in the Journal of SexualAggression, titled, 'Welcome to the Rape Camp': Sexual Exploitation and the Internet in Cambodia,by Donna M. Hughes, a professor at the University of Rhode Island.  She received several emailand voice mail messages fro a man identifying himself as Mr. Sandler.  In one message, the mansaid he had had sex with a number of young girls in exchange for money in Cambodia.
(New York)