ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned an indictment charging a member of the Foreign Service with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and possession of child pornography.
Dean Cheves, 61, allegedly met a 16-year-old online while serving at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines. Cheves, who was stationed in the Philippines from September 2020 to February 2021, 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. Between February 2021 and March 2021, he also allegedly possessed child pornography.
Cheves is charged with 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.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison on count one and up to 10 years in prison on count two. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Cheves 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 case is being investigated by the Diplomatic Security Service, Office of Special Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Pomerantz Halper and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. government to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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