Bureau of Immigration. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ
MANILA, Philippines — A suspected American pedophile who allegedly sexually exploited girls in Cebu City during his travels in the country has been deported, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported Tuesday.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the American as 64-year-old Craig Alex Levin, who was deported on July 9, aboard a chartered special flight of the US Embassy from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The immigration bureau said agents from the US Marshals Service fetched Levin at the airport from his detention cell at the BI Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
Morente said BI Board of Commissioners decided to expel Levin for being an undocumented and undesirable alien on top of his status as a fugitive wanted by the US government.
“He has been placed in our immigration blacklist, thus, he is now perpetually banned from re-entering the Philippines. Henceforth, he would no longer pose a threat to our Filipino children,” Morente said in a statement.
Citing records, BI said that Levin was arrested at his condominium unit in Barangay (village) Cogon Ramos in Cebu City in May 2019, after he was seen accompanying a 15-year-old girl to his room.
The arrest came after American authorities informed local authorities that Levin is wanted to stand trial before a US district court in Philadelphia on charges of sexually exploiting minors in the Philippines and for engaging in child sex trafficking, the immigration bureau said.
Following his arrest, Levin was turned over to the BI where he was detained until his deportation.
“US prosecutors have described Levin as a dangerous sexual predator who targeted vulnerable children in the Philippines,” BI said.
“They also alleged in their indictment that Levin used the internet to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a child into sex trafficking, and that he frequently traveled to the Philippines to engage in illicit sex with minors,” the bureau added.