US thanks PH for help in catching pedophile

By ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA – The United States thanked the Philippines for providing information that led to the arrest of an American pedophile.

The US Embassy in Manila said in a statement that United States District Judge sentenced American Ronald Carey Shirley to 20 years in Federal prison on June 29 after he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

Shirley, 64, admitted to using social media to have girls in the Philippines and Vietnam send him sexually explicit photos of themselves, the embassy said.

The embassy said the Philippine National Police and the Manila office of the Homeland Security Investigations conducted an investigation after Shirley was linked by the National Center for missing and Exploited Children to a social media account suspected of involvement in child sexual exploitation.

”As a result of our partnership with the Philippine National Police Anti Cyber-Crime Group, we were able to locate and obtain damaging evidence from the victims that proved Shirley coerced them to send sexually explicit images,” HSI Attaché Ransom Avilla said.

”We will continue to work with the PNP to prevent predators from preying upon children in the Philippines. Our joint effort resulted in the judge sentencing Shirley to additional years in prison.”

Shirley was arrested in February at the Los Angeles International Airport as he was about to depart for Vietnam, supposedly to visit minor girls he had communicated with on social media.

”This sentence should serve as a sobering warning to every sexual predator who thinks they can hide from the law by violating the innocence of children overseas,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of HSI Los Angeles.

”There can be no place for the abuse of foreign children by our citizens, and HSI will seek to vindicate the rights of those victims no matter how far they live from our shores.”