Dean Cheves, Illicit Sexual Conduct and Child Pornography, Virginia 2021

A U.S. Foreign Service member has been charged with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and possessing child pornography. Dean Cheves, 61, allegedly met a 16-year-old online while serving at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines from September 2020 to February 2021.

Court documents detail that Cheves engaged in sexual activity with the minor on two occasions, knowing the minor's age, and produced cell phone videos of himself engaging in the sex acts each time. The videos were found on Cheves's devices seized from his embassy residence while in the Philippines.

Cheves is also accused of possessing child pornography between February 2021 and March 2021.

Cheves faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison on count one and up to 10 years in prison on count two if convicted. He previously made his initial court appearance on July 6, 2021, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The charges include one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and one count of possessing child pornography in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or on lands owned or leased by the United States.

Acting United States Attorney Raj Parekh of the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; and Mark Sullo, Assistant Director for Domestic Operations, U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, made the announcement.

The case is being investigated by the Diplomatic Security Service, Office of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Pomerantz Halper and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section are prosecuting the case.

Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, is also involved in the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/us-foreign-service-member-indicted-engaging-illicit-sexual-conduct-philippines-and