Ex-US diplomat admits to sex crimes with minors in PH

The seal of the United States Department of Justice is seen on the building exterior of the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, New York City, US, Aug. 17, 2020. (File photo from REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — A former US diplomat has pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct during his stint in the Philippines.

The US Department of Justice, in a statement posted on its website on Monday, said Dean Edward Cheves, 63, met multiple minors over the internet while serving at the US Embassy in the Philippines from 2017 to 2021.

Citing court records, it added that Cheves, from December 2020 to March 2021, communicated online with a then 15 to 16-year-old Filipino whom he paid to produce and send to him sexually explicit images.

Also, in February 2021, Cheves engaged in sex acts on two separate occasions with a 16-year-old Filipino he met online and used his government-issued cell phone to film himself doing so on at least one of those occasions.

The child sex abuse material that Cheves produced and received were found on devices seized from his embassy residence in the Philippines, the US DOJ said, adding that he knew his victims were minors.

In a previous statement, the US DOJ said that Cheves was charged with one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and one count of possessing child pornography in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or on lands owned or leased by the United States.

He faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison on each count and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 20, 2023.

—TINA G. SANTOS

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