A Pennsylvania court sentenced US businessman and patron of arts Kenneth Schneider to 15 years in jail for having intimate relations with a Russian teenaged ballet dancer, National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) said Saturday.

Prosecutor Michael Levy said Schneider, 46, who had contributed to charity actions in the Moscow State Academy of Choreography in 1998, had been charged with having sexual relations with then 12-year-old Russian boy Roman Zavarov for several years.

Schneider, who was arrested March 27 in Cyprus, had lived with the boy in a Moscow apartment and then took him to Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) in 2001, prosecutors said.

Zavarov, now a married 25-year-old professional ballet dancer, testified against Schneider in the court. He said he had been sexually molested and could not escape because Schneider was paying for his tutors and housing expenses.

At the end of the trial, the judge called the culprit 'a monster'.

'This investigation has exposed the disturbing truth concerning those individuals who believe they can victimise children abroad and not be held accountable in America for their very disturbing actions,' said John Kelleghan, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Philadelphia.

Schneider, the founder and president of the Apogee Foundation, was also ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution for Zavarov's medical and psychological treatment. He is pictured here awarding his organization's Rising Star award to another Russian boy (not the victim the subject of this story), at St. Petersburg's Philharmonic Hall at the conclusion of the 2006 Crescendo Festival.