Tampa, Florida – Senior U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington today sentenced Christopher John Streeter (63, Land O’Lakes) 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. The money that Streeter remitted covered various recording production costs, such as hotel rooms, transportation, and a commission for the recruiters. In return, Streeter received videos and images of children involved in various sex acts that tracked Streeter’s directives. Streeter negotiated and paid a premium for videos and images depicting female children losing their virginity and being harmed by other forms of sexual violence. He also negotiated and paid a premium for media depicting female children being placed at risk of pregnancy, including additional payment for emergency contraception pills and, occasionally, for abortions.
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 sexual abuse of the victim. At one point, Streeter voiced displeasure with the videos not depicting insemination of the victim and ordered Tababini to purchase and make the victim take emergency contraception for future videos.
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 and executed three search warrants in support of their continuing investigation.
“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. “Leveraging HSI’s unique international authorities and our strong law enforcement partnership with the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, this human trafficker will now face the justice he deserves.”
"I am proud of the partnership that we have with the Department of Homeland Security,” said Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco. “We are proud of the hard work of our members that resulted in saving children and getting the perpetuator of these heinous acts out of our community."
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (Tampa and Manila), with assistance from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Murray.
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 case was brought as part of the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force of the Middle District of Florida; one of 13 Task Forces in the country to receive grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Task Force is a collaboration of local, state, and federal law-enforcement agents working together with organizations to detect, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area. This includes trafficking of minors, forced labor, transnational sex trafficking, and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud, or coercion. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment