US hails PH help on pedophile

US EMBASSY. AP FILE PHOTO

The United States embassy in Manila has hailed the cooperation of agencies in the Philippines that helped land an American pedophile charged with child pornography in prison.

A US District Court Judge sentenced 64-year-old Ronald Carey Shirley to 20 years in federal prison on June 29 after he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, admitting he used social media to solicit girls in the Philippines and Vietnam to send him sexually explicit images of themselves.

The investigation into Shirley began after Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received a lead from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about suspected child sexual exploitation activity linked to a social media account belonging to Shirley.

The Philippine National Police and HSI office in Manila substantially contributed to the investigations, the US embassy said.

“As a result of our partnership with the PNP 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.

“Our joint effort resulted in the judge sentencing Shirley to additional years in prison,” he said.

Shirley was arrested in February by special agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s HSI at Los Angeles International Airport as he was about to depart for Vietnam to visit minor girls he had communicated with on social media.