International Sex Tourist and Child Exploiter Arrested After Trip to Philippines

 PLANO, Texas – A Lake Kiowa, Texas man has been arrested and charged with international child exploitation crimes in the Eastern District of Texas announced U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Cox today.                 

          David Woods, 68, of Lake Kiowa, Cooke County, Texas has been charged in an indictment returned by a grand jury with coercing and enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.  Woods has entered “not guilty” pleas to the charges.

          Woods came to the attention of authorities in July 2019 when he was encountered by members of Customs and Border Protection at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he returned to the United States from a months-long trip to the Philippines.  Agents with Homeland Security Investigations initiated an investigation, which revealed that Woods has used a cell phone, laptop, and a social media application to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a minor female victim in the Philippines to engage in sex acts, film those acts, and send the images and videos to him.  Agents also discovered that Woods engaged in sex acts with the same child victim after traveling to the Philippines in 2019.  Woods was arrested on September 25, 2020 at the George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas as he arrived on a flight from the Philippines.

          If convicted, Woods faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison.

          This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

          This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations-Dallas, with assistance from Customs and Border Protection in Houston, Dallas, and Honolulu, HSI-Philippines, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller.

          It is important to note that an indictment or arrest should not be considered as evidence of guilt and that all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.