A sentence of 160 years was meted out March 4 to an Alabama man for his use of the internet to seek images and pay for live transmissions of the violent sexual abuse of Filipino children as young as 5-years old.
Benjamin Walter, 41, of Decatur, Alabama was convicted by a federal jury on Oct. 5, 2021, of four counts of producing and attempting to produce child pornography and one count each of receiving and distributing child pornography.
Walter's case is just the tip of the iceberg. The U.S. crackdown of transnational online sex exploitation pulls back the curtain on a dark and dangerous trend abusing children from poor countries like the Philippines
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Walter used two web service provider accounts, including messenger and webcam applications, to seek women in the Philippines to sexually abuse their own children and relatives. Walter’s requests to these women, which spanned approximately three years, included directions to arrange for the gang rape of young children and to sexually assault several young children in other harmful ways.
Walter sent money to the Philippines for the videos, images, and live transmissions via Moneygram, Western Union, and other money remitters in $25 to $50 increments. In addition to the live webcam shows, Walter also sent and received emails to which the senders attached images and videos of young children engaged in sex acts with adult men.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Walter used two web service provider accounts, including messenger and webcam applications, to seek women in the Philippines to sexually abuse their own children and relatives. Walter’s requests to these women, which spanned approximately three years, included directions to arrange for the gang rape of young children and to sexually assault several young children in other harmful ways.
Walter sent money to the Philippines for the videos, images, and live transmissions via Moneygram, Western Union, and other money remitters in $25 to $50 increments. In addition to the live webcam shows, Walter also sent and received emails to which the senders attached images and videos of young children engaged in sex acts with adult men.
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| BENJAMIN WALTER |
This investigation and prosecution were part of a joint FBI and Homeland Security Investigations operation that targeted the buyers and sellers of these types of webcam shows in the Philippines.
"The conviction of Benjamin Walter is a triumph not just for his victims but also for other victims of sexual abuse and exploitation," DOJ spokesperson Undersecretary Emmeline Villar said in a text message to the Philippines News Agency.
"The conviction of Benjamin Walter is a triumph not just for his victims but also for other victims of sexual abuse and exploitation," DOJ spokesperson Undersecretary Emmeline Villar said in a text message to the Philippines News Agency.
"Online exploitation of children is one of the vilest of crimes that preys upon the most vulnerable -- our innocent children. Most of them are left scarred for life and it is important for their complete recovery and healing that their abusers are held accountable for their crimes," said Villar.
The Philippines has the highest incidence of Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) in the world and the numbers keep on growing every year, said Villar.
FYI: Link to Project Safe Childhood, at www.justice.gov/psc.
Walter's case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The U.S. DOJ crackdown on transnational exploitation has also resulted in three recent convictions and sentencing of U.S. men.
The website lawandcrime.comlikewise cited North Carolina man Jacob Daylen Ross, 47, who received a 55-year sentence in January for paying a Filipino woman to sexually abuse children over a video livestream and Charles Lee Frazier who got received a 27-year sentence in November 2021 for paying impoverished Filipino mothers for explicit pictures of them sexually abusing their children.
The website lawandcrime.comlikewise cited North Carolina man Jacob Daylen Ross, 47, who received a 55-year sentence in January for paying a Filipino woman to sexually abuse children over a video livestream and Charles Lee Frazier who got received a 27-year sentence in November 2021 for paying impoverished Filipino mothers for explicit pictures of them sexually abusing their children.
According to UNICEF Philippines child protection officer Ramil Anton Villafranca, online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) is any act of exploitative nature carried out against any child with the use of an electronic device or any medium that can connect to the internet at any point of the abuse.
Villar blamed the high incidence of poverty in the Philippines, both in urban and rural areas, as one of the chief reasons.
“One of the primary reasons is economic. In Taglish he said, "The parents tell their children, “you can help us if you engage in this act.”
Villar blamed the high incidence of poverty in the Philippines, both in urban and rural areas, as one of the chief reasons.
“One of the primary reasons is economic. In Taglish he said, "The parents tell their children, “you can help us if you engage in this act.”
"The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking has responded with great force to eradicate OSEC in the Philippines," said Villar, spokesperson for the United States' DOJ.
"Each year our rescues of abuse and exploited children, investigations of OSEC, cases filed, and convictions secured are increasing due to our continued efforts to strengthen and scale up our response against OSEC."
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