ARIZONA, USA — The House of Representatives has voted to pass a bill that would make possessing, trafficking or importing a sex doll that looks like an infant or child a class 4 felony in Arizona.
HB2169 passed the House unanimously on Monday. The vote comes a week after the bill passed the Senate.
The dolls in question have been found in increasing numbers across the United States, including three in Pinal County.
An FBI brief sent out in February prompted Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer to bring the trend to the attention of the bill’s sponsor Representative Quang Nguyen.
“We live in a civilized nation and there’s no room for this type of product to exist anywhere, especially in our great state of Arizona," said Nguyen.
“We need to do all we can to make it impossible for pedophiles to hurt children,” said Lamb.
Det. Julia Stoltz is currently an Internet Crimes Against Children investigator for the sheriff's office.
“With regard to child sex dolls, they’re nothing more than a 3D, physical representation of child sexual abuse material,” said Stoltz.
Stoltz said these cases are the hardest cases to investigate but the reward of getting a perpetrator behind bars is indescribable, and this law brings about a new way to do that.
“Knowing we can help the victims, and this is just one more tool to do that because these perpetrators will use these dolls until they can get their hands on an actual child.”
The bill defines a child sex doll as an anatomically correct doll, mannequin or robot that has the features of an infant or child under the age of 12, which has an intended purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification.
The bill will next move to the desk of Gov. Katie Hobbs who will decide whether to sign it into law.
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