The last person you’d expect to commit sexual crimes against children is a missionary.

19 year old Matthew Durham did just that while on a trip to Kenya with Upendo, a charity organisation for orphaned, abandoned and abused children. He confessed to raping and molesting girls and boys at the orphanage in which he was volunteering.

A caretaker confronted the teenager about his behaviour, after suspecting something was not right, leading Durham to confess. The accused had volunteered overseas severally, and on his last visit, the criminal complaint claims that, “Durham requested to stay at the children’s home in an ‘overflow bunk’ rather than at an offsite facility.”

A US Attorney, Sanford Coats, said: “This is a young man in our community that made choices to exploit children in an orphanage,” he added, “It’s a true tragedy all the way around.”

The victims were between four and nine years of age, and one is HIV positive according to the affidavit.

Even though Durham committed the crimes in Kenya, Oklahoma can hold the accused accountable for the crimes. Durham faces life in prison, and is being held without bond.