During Human Trafficking Prevention Month, one of the Justice Department's first cases in 2021 resulted in a life sentence for a Florida man who directed, primarily through online communications and transactions, the sex trafficking of impoverished young children in the Philippines.
Senior U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington on Jan. 7 sentenced Christopher John Streeter, 63, to life in federal prison for sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14. Streeter had pleaded guilty on October 15, 2020.
According to court documents, from September 2018 through June 2019, Streeter directly participated in a scheme that sexually exploited children in the Philippines in order to produce child sex-abuse videos for his consumption. Over that period, Streeter communicated and transacted with Philippines-based facilitators to recruit children to engage in sex acts on camera. The child victims — some of whom were as young as 12 and 13 years of age — were particularly vulnerable due to poverty and illness.
Streeter sent payments to the Philippines in exchange for depictions of the victims engaging in sex acts. Streeter received videos and images of children involved in various sex acts that tracked Streeter’s directives.
One of Streeter’s victims was a 12-year-old girl from Ozamis, Philippines. In 2018 and 2019, Streeter communicated with a Philippine recruiter in Ozamis named Analyn Tababini. On multiple occasions, while in the Tampa Bay area, Streeter paid Tababini to arrange for sex-abuse videos to be made of the victim. The monies covered production costs, including the male abuser, money for the victim, hotel expenses, and a commission for Tababini. In return, Tababini sent Streeter several videos of the abuse suffered by the young girl.
In addition to working for Streeter, Homeland Security Investigations Transnational National Criminal Investigative Unit in Manila discovered that Tababini has facilitated internet sex shows of minors in exchange for payment from an array of international clientele.
The Philippines victim-rescue operation was conducted by the Philippine National Police (Manila), with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations (Tampa and Manila), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (National Targeting Center), the Philippine National Police Woman and Children Protection Center (Mindanao Field Unit), and the Ozamis City Police Office.
This reprehensible case was brought to light as the DOJ Friday (Jan. 29) commemorated the 10th annual National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and declared a continued commitment to combatting human trafficking in all its forms. The fight against human trafficking remains one of the department’s highest priorities, and the department will remain relentless in its efforts to bring traffickers to justice and seek justice for survivors.
Human trafficking is a crime that preys on some of the most vulnerable members of our society. It is a crime of exploitation that deprives victims of their rights, freedom, and dignity. Traffickers exploit the vulnerable through forced labor or commercial sex involving children or involving adults subjected to force, fraud, or coercion.
“The Department of Justice is unflagging in its resolve to eradicate human trafficking and pursue justice for those affected by these heinous crimes,” said Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson. In fiscal year 2020, the department brought 210 federal human trafficking cases against 337 defendants, and secured 309 convictions.
If you or someone you know is being trafficked, contact local law enforcement or report it to federal law enforcement through the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or 1-866-347-2423.
Senior U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington on Jan. 7 sentenced Christopher John Streeter, 63, to life in federal prison for sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14. Streeter had pleaded guilty on October 15, 2020.
According to court documents, from September 2018 through June 2019, Streeter directly participated in a scheme that sexually exploited children in the Philippines in order to produce child sex-abuse videos for his consumption. Over that period, Streeter communicated and transacted with Philippines-based facilitators to recruit children to engage in sex acts on camera. The child victims — some of whom were as young as 12 and 13 years of age — were particularly vulnerable due to poverty and illness.
Streeter sent payments to the Philippines in exchange for depictions of the victims engaging in sex acts. Streeter received videos and images of children involved in various sex acts that tracked Streeter’s directives.
One of Streeter’s victims was a 12-year-old girl from Ozamis, Philippines. In 2018 and 2019, Streeter communicated with a Philippine recruiter in Ozamis named Analyn Tababini. On multiple occasions, while in the Tampa Bay area, Streeter paid Tababini to arrange for sex-abuse videos to be made of the victim. The monies covered production costs, including the male abuser, money for the victim, hotel expenses, and a commission for Tababini. In return, Tababini sent Streeter several videos of the abuse suffered by the young girl.
In addition to working for Streeter, Homeland Security Investigations Transnational National Criminal Investigative Unit in Manila discovered that Tababini has facilitated internet sex shows of minors in exchange for payment from an array of international clientele.
In a recent, coordinated operation conducted by the Philippine National Police in Ozamis, Philippines, six of Tababini’s child sex-trafficking victims (including Streeter’s 12-year-old victim) were rescued by the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development. Philippine authorities also arrested Tababini.
“This morally corrupt individual thought he could circumvent justice because of international borders,” said HSI Tampa Acting Deputy Special Agent in Charge Micah C. McCombs.
“This morally corrupt individual thought he could circumvent justice because of international borders,” said HSI Tampa Acting Deputy Special Agent in Charge Micah C. McCombs.
The Philippines victim-rescue operation was conducted by the Philippine National Police (Manila), with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations (Tampa and Manila), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (National Targeting Center), the Philippine National Police Woman and Children Protection Center (Mindanao Field Unit), and the Ozamis City Police Office.
The DOJ, along with local law enforcement agencies, continue to battle this modern day form of slavery. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
This reprehensible case was brought to light as the DOJ Friday (Jan. 29) commemorated the 10th annual National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and declared a continued commitment to combatting human trafficking in all its forms. The fight against human trafficking remains one of the department’s highest priorities, and the department will remain relentless in its efforts to bring traffickers to justice and seek justice for survivors.
Also in 2021, the department successfully convicted a labor trafficker who used debts, threats, abuse, and assaults to compel the victim’s unpaid labor for 10 hours a day, six to seven days a week, in the defendant’s North Carolina nail salon.
The department also secured a life sentence and over $900,000 in restitution against a Texas sex trafficker who compelled women and girls to engage in commercial sex through violence, isolation, intimidation, and threats.
Human trafficking is a crime that preys on some of the most vulnerable members of our society. It is a crime of exploitation that deprives victims of their rights, freedom, and dignity. Traffickers exploit the vulnerable through forced labor or commercial sex involving children or involving adults subjected to force, fraud, or coercion.
“The Department of Justice is unflagging in its resolve to eradicate human trafficking and pursue justice for those affected by these heinous crimes,” said Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson. In fiscal year 2020, the department brought 210 federal human trafficking cases against 337 defendants, and secured 309 convictions.
If you or someone you know is being trafficked, contact local law enforcement or report it to federal law enforcement through the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or 1-866-347-2423.
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