CYBERSEX ABUSE RISING RAPIDLY, AND PH NEEDS US’ HELP IN FIGHTING IT
Because cybersex abuse is a relatively new crime, legal systems are grappling with how to prosecute it. Another case will give Philippine authorities a chance to learn more. The National Bureau of Investigation arrested in Pampanga David Timothy Deakin, a 53-yearold American, on suspicion that he exploited dozens of Filipino children using webcams to sell videos, pictures, and livestreams of them in sexual acts. Deakin’s arrest last April 20 was said to be one of the largest seizures of illicit digital content in the Philippines.
Authorities in the Philippines have arrested an American suspected of exploiting dozens of Filipino children using webcams to sell videos, images and livestreams.
David Timothy Deakin’s arrest April 20, and the rescue of two girls, is one of the largest seizures of potentially illicit digital content in the Philippines.
Authorities are reviewing about 30 hard drives, as well as numerous computers, to find suspected buyers and victims.
Investigators asked Deakin repeatedly why he had images of children engaged in sexual acts on his computer and bondage and fetish tools in his apartment.
The suspect’s Cherry Mobile Touch HD tablet — which can be wiped clean and reset with a four digit code — had more than 4,000 contacts. One computer had another 13 networked into it, from servers he said around the world.
“The suspect is really a highly technical person, he is computer savvy, so he was able to hide several computers within the computer,” said NBI Anti-human trafficking chief Janet Francisco, who leads the case.
Investigators hope digital forensics will lead them to rescue dozens, possibly hundreds, of victims. And they expect to catch more conspirators in the wider syndicate, both in the Philippines and abroad.
Deakin has been charged with cybercrime, child pornography, child abuse and child trafficking. The 53-year-old suspect originally from Peoria, Illinois, has been in the Philippines since 2000.
Because cybersex abuse is a newer crime, legal systems grapple with how to prosecute.
In the U.S., the buyers are typically charged with possessing, distributing or producing child pornography. In the Philippines, it’s a human trafficking crime.
In 2015, five people were convicted of online child sex trafficking in the Philippines.
Officials at both ends of the abuse agree they need to collaborate to stop it, and last month the U.S. committed $3 million.
Philippine National Police General Liborioi Carabbacan said they’re trying to raise awareness, letting parents and children know it’s illegal.