Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 15) — A 58-year-old man from Chicago has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting he solicited sexually explicit photos and videos from nine girls in the Philippines, the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the North District of Illinois said on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
US District Judge Virginia Kendall imposed the sentence on Karl Quilter after a July 7 hearing in Chicago’s federal court, the USAO said.
Quilter pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of sexual exploitation of children, it added.
According to the US’ principal litigator, the Chicago man communicated with the girls through Facebook, Viber, and Skype from 2017 to 2020, calling them his “girlfriends,” and manipulated and pressured them into sending sexually explicit photos and videos.
In a message to one 16-year-old victim in 2020, Quilter promised to send money to her family for medicine and food if she complied with his demands.
“If u do what I tell you… I will make sure u can buy food for 2 weeks and your medication,” Quilter said in the message obtained by authorities. “Think of your little sister that she can e[a]t for 2 weeks everyday 3 meals a day and u get well.”
The USAO said Quilter also preyed on the victims’ financial hardship, using money transfers to the victims’ families to entice the girls to take the sexually explicit images and send them to him.
“Quilter traveled to the Philippines in 2017 and 2018 and explicitly referenced his plans to have sex with several of the minors when he next visited the country in December 2020,” it added.
He was arrested in Chicago in November 2020.
“Victim by victim, and message by message, defendant used social media and the internet to target and groom young Filipino girls,” Assistant US Attorney Ashley Chung stated in the government’s sentencing memorandum.
“This was not a one-time aberration, but rather a years-long pattern of predatory abuse and exploitation of minors,” Chung added.
If you need to report a case of sexual abuse or exploitation of children, please call the Department of Social Welfare & Development or the Child Health and Intervention and Protective Service (CHIPS) at 734-4216 or the Philippine National Police Operation Center at 712-8613/722-0540 & 724 8749.
The Department of Justice has also provided a list of hotlines that may be contacted for help regarding child abuse through this link: doj.gov.ph/child-protection-program.html.
