MANILA: A former American diplomat has pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors when he was posted at the United States embassy here.
A statement issued by the US Department of Justice revealed this, Philstar.com reported.
Dean Edward Cheves, 63, recently admitted at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.
This includes the production and possession of child pornography and engaging in sex acts with a minor when he served at the embassy in the Philippines from 2017 to 2021, during which time he met "multiple minors over the internet.
Records revealed that from December 2020 to March 2021, Cheves communicated online with a Filipina aged 15 to 16 at the time, whom he paid in exchange for sending her sexually explicit images to him.
In February last year, Cheves engaged in sexual acts on two separate occasions with a 16-year-old girl whom he met online, using his government-issued cell phone.
"The child sex abuse material that Cheves produced and received from these minors were found on devices seized from his embassy residence in the Philippines," the US justice department said.
"He knew the ages of both minors at the time he engaged in the conduct."
Cheves is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 20, next year and is facing a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. of the Justice Department's Criminal Division and US lawyer Jessica Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement.