California couple charged with agreeing to circumcise young girls.

2004 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A couple in the Canyon Country area outside Los Angeles, California, have been jailed without bail in what authorities believe is the first case filed under a federal law banning genital mutilation of girls under 18.

Todd Cameron Bertrang, 41, and Robin Faulkinbury, 24, were arrested after authorities said the couple struck a deal with undercover FBI agents to circumcise two girls they thought were the agents' 8- and 12-year-old daughters. No circumcisions occurred.

The pair appeared in federal court on January 9, 2004, but did not enter pleas. Faulkinbury was ordered held without bail until a February 2, 2004, arraignment, while Bertrang was ordered held without bail pending a hearing in mid-January. Each faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted.

Both were given court-appointed lawyers, although Bertrang's was only temporary because Judge Carla Woehrle said he appeared to have a "significant" income from an unspecified business.

Bertrang and Faulkinbury were charged with conspiracy to violate the federal Prohibition of Female Mutilation Act of 1995, which outlawed the removal of certain sexual organs on girls under age 18 unless it is medically necessary and only then if performed by a licensed medical practitioner.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Lally said there never has been a decision or appeal in such a case, and he had not heard of any cases even being filed under the law.

According to his website, Bertrang is an aficionado of body piercing and cutting who has performed body modifications on both men and women. According to an arrest affidavit, he boasted to an undercover FBI agent that he had performed more female circumcisions than "anyone else in the Western hemisphere."