BALTIMORE: An American based in Maryland was charged Friday (Nov 210 with five counts of sexual exploitation and other crimes in connection with his role in a child sex trafficking ring based in the Philippines.
Philip Andrew Turner (pic), a 46-year-old resident of Linthicum Heights, is currently being held at the Chesapeake Detention Facility in Baltimore.
He faces charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, online coercion and enticement, receipt of child sexual abuse material and possession of child sexual abuse, the US Attorney for the District of Maryland announced Friday in a press release.
Turner allegedly connected with known child traffickers in the Philippines beginning in October 2017, “using the internet to persuade, induce, entice and coerce” girls between 10 and 14 years old to engage in sexually explicit conduct, according to the 15-count indictment.
“Turner submitted payment after negotiating a price and then selected children that he wanted to watch, and the sex acts he wanted to see,” the press release said. “He also received child sexual abuse material images from the traffickers that he saved to an online account.”
If convicted, Turner faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for each count of sexual exploitation of a child. He is scheduled to appear Dec 3 in the US District Court in Baltimore before Judge Chelsea J. Crawford.
The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Kelly O. Hayes, US Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the indictment with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Evan Campanella, Maryland State Police Acting Superintendent Col. Michael A. Jackson and State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
